When the END is unleashed
by Lady Danyrie August
Summary: Natsu has had his E.N.D. curse powers unlocked for years, and together with his advanced Fire Dragon Slayer magic, he's risen to Second Wizard Saint. What happens when he is charged with the duty of ending Acnologia?
1. Chapter 1: The Second Wizard Saint

I do not own Fairy Tail.

Natsu sighed. He really, really wasn't fond of transportation. This stupid train had been going for over an hour now. "Soon..." he muttered. Soon his torture would be over, and he would arrive in the port town of Hargeon.

He had originally taken this train because he had been passed a rumour that a Salamander was in Hargeon. While he seriously doubted that Igneel, his father, was actually in the port town, he decided that it couldn't hurt to check it out. Maybe this Salamander would know a thing or two.

Finally, mercifully, the train came to a stop. Natsu sprang out of the death trap as quickly as he possibly could. No way was he staying on there for any longer than necessary. Screw that noise.

"Now... to find me a Salamander." Anyone listening in would have trembled at the cold tone he used. Stumbling wearily through the streets, Natsu kept his ears open for anyone talking about Salamander. After an hourlong wander, he finally caught a snippet of conversation that gave him some information.

"Yeah, Salamander's in the square back over there!"

His head whipped around to see two girls clutching each others arms and talking excitedly. One of them was pointing back the direction he had just come from. He walked up to them before they could be on their way and interrupted them as politely as he could.

"Excuse me, but did you say that you knew where that Salamander was?"

Both of the girls turned to face him, frustration evident in their glares. Then their eyes opened wide as they recognised the man standing before them.

"Oh... my... God... ARE YOU NATSU DRAGNEEL?!" The two girls screamed in unison while Natsu simply scratched the back of his head, looking uncomfortable, but grinning regardless.

"Yeah, that's me. Hey, you couldn't possibly point me towards the square that Salamander guy was, could you?"

The girls sprang on the opportunity, each taking one of his hands and squealing. "We'll take you right there!" They declared joyously.

Being essentially frog-marched through the streets by fangirls was definitely not how Natsu saw this day going. Soon enough, the torture was over, as they reached the square in question. Natsu froze on the spot. That face...

Standing in the middle of the crowd of women before him was a tall man, wearing a purple cape and sporting short purple hair. A tattoo sat lazily above his right eye. On the hand he currently had raised to his cheek were two rings, one of which Natsu recognised as a Charm spell. There was no doubt in his mind as to who the man was.

The man glanced around this way and that way, revelling at how easily he had captured the attentions of all these women. They would surely fetch a fine price in Bosco! However, his joyful thoughts crashed and burned when a harsh voice called out over the crowd.

"Bora the Prominence, formerly of Titan Nose, you are hereby under arrest. Please surrender peacefully, and follow me to the Rune Knight outpost."

The crowd parted as a wild-looking pink haired man stepped forward. A heavy scowl fell upon Bora's face, and silence rippled back into the crowd.

"Who the hell do you think you are, pinky? I'm the Salamander, not this Bora fellow you just spouted about. You can't arrest me, I haven't done anything wrong!"

A hearty laugh came from the pinkster. Bora gave a low growl. Obviously this man knew him from his wanted poster, but he had hoped his bluff might have fooled him. Drawing himself up to his full height, he struck an imposing figure and he placed his fingers together, ready to attack with a click of his fingers.

"Alright, clearly that isn't flying, but I don't want to hurt you kid, so if you turn around and walk away, I'll leave this town and we can both forget this ever happened, got it?"

The 'kid' smiled at him, a creepy smile that definitely did not put him at ease.

"I told you, Bora. You're under arrest, or weren't you listening? You ARE coming with me, like it or not."

His tone turned fiercely authoritative towards the end of that sentence, and Bora flinched back ever so slightly. It wasn't missed by Natsu though, who only grinned wider. Now that Bora was backed into a corner, figuratively, he would attack and Natsu could take him down without feeling guilty.

"Damn you, kid! Eat this! Prominence Typhoon!" He clicked his readied fingers and a whirl of purple fire engulfed the pink haired man. Before Bora even had time to gloat that his opponent had been all talk, he found himself introduced quite painfully to the cobblestone road. Within a second, his hands were forced together and cuffs snapped around his wrists. As his magic was suddenly cut off, the fire dissappeared and the Charm spell over the women broke.

The women came to their senses fairly quickly, and began to look around angrily for the man they'd been tricked by. He was already gone.

Elsewhere in the city, Natsu was marching his new prisoner towards the Rune Knight outpost in Hargeon. He moved at a very quick pace, keeping the man just off balance, barely able to keep his feet under him.

Knocking once on the door, Natsu opened it and let himself in.

"Hiya Glen, I've got a prisoner for you. Bora the Prominence, slave trader, user of banned Charm magic."

A Rune Knight who, for some reason, had swapped his regulation helmet for a ten-gallon cowboy hat, looked up from his desk.

"Well howdy, Natsu, long time no see. You've been in Crocus, I heard."

Natsu grinned and answered in a tone that reminded Bora of a child in a candy store.

"Yeah, it was awesome! There were so many different restaurants with different foods! Aw, man, you shoulda been there!"

"Hey, I'd love to come next time. I've got long service leave for a month at the end of the year, maybe we can do some travelling? Anyway, business first. Bora the Prominence, you say?" A nod from Natsu. "Ok, do you have his re... ah, thank you, the request. Alright, sit him down over there."

Bora was then rather forcefully directed into the small holding cell beside the desk.

"Here's your reward, buddy, 400'000 Jewel."

Natsu shook his head and pushed the money back across the desk. "I'm good."

Bora's mouth dropped open in astonishment. Had... had a frigging bounty hunter just refused a reward?!

Then the cowboy man, Glen, chuckled.

"Aw, shucks, that's right. Wizard Saints don't need cash for petty clowns like this guy. Alright, I'll see you around Natsu. Dinner table at mine has room for one more tonight!"

Natsu was halfway out the door already, but he stopped and waved while he answered.

"Thanks Glen, but I'll pass. I've got to get back to Magnolia tonight or there'll be hell to pay from the Master. I will take you up on that travelling though. Later!"

It quieted down pretty quick in the outpost once Natsu had left. After all, the only ones in the room were the shocked Bora, who couldn't believe that he had been captured by a Wizard Saint, and Glen.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Glen spoke without looking up from his paperwork.

"You know, Bora, you are real lucky that you caught him in a good mood. Last guy he brought in here tried bad-mouthing him a whole bunch. Had to spend six months in hospital before he went to prison."

"Ugh, God damn it." Natsu groaned, still feeling nauseous from his train ride back to Magnolia. It was already fairly dark, with only a few fleeting rays of light peeking over the horizon. He trudged through the streets towards the only building that he cared about in the city, Fairy Tail.

It took an eternity (five minutes) to reach the doors, and he pushed them open slowly, to avoid attracting attention.

Too late.

The moment the door opened, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around him, picking him up, before said arms flung him forward, where he landed headfirst in a pillar.

Standing and shaking off the impact, he quickly retreated to the second floor where his old rival, Gray, wouldn't follow. Even the popsicle wasn't stupid enough to risk the wrath of the Master. Sitting in his usual corner, which Natsu referred to as the Drinking Corner, was Laxus, the grandson of the Master and one of the strongest wizards in the guild. Both of them, Natsu and Laxus, were SS-class mages, along with another member who wasn't in town right now.

Upon Natsu's appearance on the top floor, Laxus looked up from his drinking and nodded curtly. Even though almost no one could possibly see the two of them up here, Laxus never showed any affection towards Natsu in the guild.

"Is the Master in, Laxus?" Natsu asked softly. Receiving another nod, he walked along the balcony to the office door.

"Master, it's me. I'm back."

For a minute, there was silence. A gruff voice finally called out "Enter!".

Natsu pushed the door open and stepped over the threshold. He bowed his head respectfully to the old man sitting at the desk at the far end of the room.

"Ah, nice to see someone here has some manners!" Makarov Dreyar chuckled, a smile in his eyes. Natsu lifted his head and joined the Master's mirth. "Alright my boy, tell me about your little trip. I'm sure you have plenty to report!"

Natsu shook his head. "Actually Master, there isn't really that much to tell. There was no Salamander at all, just Bora the Prominence. You remember the wanted poster going up, oh, eight months ago? He was pathetic. I took him into the Rune Knight outpost in Hargeon and came back here. And because it matters to you, no damage."

Makarov raised an eyebrow. "To Bora, or to the town?"

Natsu giggled, a very peculiar sound. "Both."

Sighing, as one his age was want to do, Makarov waved a hand at Natsu, dismissing him. Makarov watched him until the door was almost closed before grinning. Waiting a few minutes to account for Natsu's superhuman hearing, he muttered "At least that one isn't costing the guild thousands of Jewel."

The Fairy Tail guild was one of jubilation, celebration and exploration. Currently, most of the members were jubilantly celebrating and exploring a variety of alcoholic beverages. Go figure.

Not joining in on the 'fun' was Natsu Dragneel. Usually he didn't mind sitting around, having a few drinks and talking with all of his guildmates, but tonight he just felt tired. Thus, he stayed in his place on the sceond floor, sleepily scratching the Fairy Tail emblem into the wood of the table with a fingernail.

Of course, there is never any rest for the wicked. A knock came at the door, which was unusual. Naturally, since most of the guild was busy being drunk and disorderly, Natsu and Laxus were the only two to hear the knock, with Natsu being the only one to care.

Sighing in a manner that was eerily similar to Makarov, he rose stiffly from his seat and made his way down the stairs, and to the doors.

Opening the doors, the last thing he expected to see was a young woman with a whip of all things on her hip. 'Kinky' he thought, before shaking away the perverted thoughts, for which he had Gildarts to thank.

"Excuse me, but this is the Fairy Tail guild, right?"

At least she was polite.

Natsu grinned. "Yep! This is Fairy Tail. Don't mind the noise, they're busy celebrating... something. I'm not even sure what. Come on in!"

He grandiously swept one arm around, ushering her inside. She giggled and stepped inside. She smelt peculiar, a mix of vanilla and excitement and nervousness. Thankfully, he had learned a long time ago not to comment on anyones scent, especially a woman's.

He led her up to the bar and called out to Mirajane.

"Hey, Mira, do me a favour would you? I'm pretty sure this young lady wants to join Fairy Tail, can you look after her while I go get the Master?"

The new girl nearly exploded at meeting Mirajane, which of course caused Natsu to chuckle. It seemed that Mira had fans even among the female population. Somehow, he had never considered that they might look up to her.

"So, what's your name?" The white haired bartender asked the new girl, flashing her a dazzling smile. She always enjoyed meeting her fans, but she wasn't so selfish as to make the conversation about her.

"Oh, I'm Lucy! I'm so excited to be here, meeting you! I mean, I'm actually in the Fairy Tail guild hall!" The golden-blonde girl jumped on the spot, bubbling with enthusiasm. Her enthusaism was short-lived, however, as a table flew right past her face, before smacking Mirajane flat in the face.

Lucy let out a peculiar 'eep' of surprise and shock. It took her a moment to realise, but the guild had suddenly gone silent. She could hear some comments being whispered between people in the hall, and she didn't at all like where they were going.

"Oh shit, he's done it now!"

"He hit Mira? Dude, he's dead."

"Gray... it was nice knowing you."

The man she supposed must be Gray looked around frantically at everyone. "Ah shit, shit shit!"

The table that had smacked Mira was now lying on the floor. A look that would probably scare Death himself adorned her beautiful face, and Gray seemed to be fixed to the spot. Lucy was very glad that the glare wasn't directed at her.

Very quietly, Mira hissed out something Lucy didn't recognise. "Fullbuster..."

Suddenly, Gray regained his senses and sprinted as fast as he could for the doors of the guild. He almost made it, too. Seriously, when he landed face first on the floor, he was mere centimetres from the threshold. A pair of black boots were right in front of him, and he looked up slowly to find one angry-looking Natsu staring down at him.

"Oh h-hey Natsu, I d-didn't s-see you th-there!"

Natsu didn't reply, he merely pointed back towards the bartender. Gray swallowed his pride and pulled himself up. As much as he hated listening to the 'flame-brain', he knew that he had messed up.

After Gray's expansive and overly dramatic apology, and Mira's even more dramatic response, things returned to the rowdy state they had been in, with the exception of one sulking ice mage.

Natsu walked back to the bar, sitting down beside Lucy. Mira was already back to her usual self, at least outwardly. Natsu flashed a quick glance, and she smiled lightly. Satisfied, he turned back to the new girl, who he still hadn't learned the name of.

"So, um..."

"Lucy"

"Lucy. Do you mind telling me what kind of magic you use? The Master told me he'll be happy to accept you based on my judgement."

The girl looked slightly uncomfortable, she had assumed there would be some kind of interview, but she hadn't really prepared and besides, she had expected it to be more private. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, too nervous to speak. Then she finally drew in a deep breath and spoke in a quiet voice.

"I'm a Celestial mage, I have contracts with a couple of different Celestial Spirits, including three of the Zodiac Spirits."

Natsu raised an eyebrow. She flinched, thinking that maybe she wasn't good enough after all.

"Alright, you're in! Congratulations, and welcome to Fairy Tail! Now, where would you like your guild mark?"

She raised her hand to sit on the bartop and said "Here. In pink please."

Pulling a stamp from... somewhere... Natsu pressed it to her hand, and with a light popping sound, the guild emblem appeared on her hand.

Groans were echoing around the guild. Thanks to last nights impromptu party, most of Fairy Tail's mages were suffering from hangovers. The celebration of nothing in particular had turned into a celebration of their new member, and so had lasted much longer than expected.

Said new member, Lucy, was sitting quietly at a table with the man called Gray Fullbuster, as his table seemed the least hungover. His habit of removing items of clothing without realising was definitely creepy, but seeing as he couldn't help it, she decided to just ignore it.

Also at the table was a huge white haired man who had introduced himself as "A real MAN!". Gray told her he was Elfman Strauss, Mira's younger brother. There was a woman at the table too, but she didn't really join the conversation. That might have had something to do with the enormous amount of alcohol she was busy consuming.

"That's Cana, she's the heaviest drinker in the guild."

Lucy shuddered at both the sight in front of her and the memory of Gray's brief introduction. All morning, she had been keeping an eye out for Natsu, as the weird pink-haired guy had introduced himself. He had yet to show his face at the guild, but she had no idea if this was normal or not. She decided to ask Gray, but he merely became disgruntled.

"I don't know why you would care about flame-brain. Stupid prick isn't even that good, I could take him. He's lucky I go easy on him all the time."

At this remark, Elfman piped up. "You know that's not true, Gray, Natsu is a real man! He's not a Wizard Saint for nothing!"

Gray scoffed, but as he did, a small fist hit him lightly on the top of the head. A voice sweet as honey met his ears only moments later.

"You wouldn't have just been badmouthing the youngest Wizard Saint behind his back, would you Gray?"

Turning slowly with a mortified expression, the ice mage came face to face with a glaring Mirajane.

"No, Mira, why would you think that? When have I ever had anything but praise to say about the flam... I mean Natsu!"

Mira muttered "Good." under her breath as she sat down between Gray and Lucy.

Lucy, a stupefied expression on her face, felt she had to ask.

"I'm sorry, but what is a Wizard Saint, and why is it important that Natsu is one?"

Gray muttered something none of them, thankfully including Mirajane, heard, before Mira began to explain.

"Well, the Wizard Saints are basically a group of ten wizards picked by the Magic Council who are the strongest wizards in the country. Our guild master, Makarov, is also a wizard, ranked at number 6. That means he is the 6th strongest mage in the country, or close enough."

Lucy nodded as understanding flooded her face, her eyes widening. "Oh, I see, so what rank is Natsu?"

Mirajane frowned. "We don't know. He never answers the question, and neither does Master. I don't know why, but it must be important to keep it secret. Anyway, the Saints are also divided into two sections. There are the regular Wizard Saints, which are ranks 10 through to 5. But then there are the top 4 Wizard Saints. They are called the Gods of Ishgar. They are so powerful, they're said to not even be human.

So basically, the Magic Council and the Wizard Saints are at the top of the heirarchy, then after them come the guild leagues, which are based on which region a guild is in, and then there are the guild masters and wizards. And then, of course..."

"There are the Dark ones."

A voice interrupted Mira, coming from directly behind Lucy. She shrieked and jumped about a metre into the air, landing on her bottom on the floor. Looking around, she saw Natsu standing behind her with a very suspicious grin on his face.

"You idiot, it isn't funny to scare people like that!"

Natsu laughed, and pulled Lucy up.

"Sorry, Lucy, I just wanted to try to liven up the mood here a bit."

He sat down and she did the same. All eyes at the table turned to him, even Cana, who had been ignoring everything up to this point.

"I might have done that to scare you, but there really are people out there who are Dark. Dark guilds are illegal guilds, essentially. Guilds who refuse to abide by the Council's rulings. They may be small-time crooks, taking extortion and kidnapping jobs, right up to murder guilds who specialise in assassination missions. Then there are the 'Big Three', the Balam Alliance. The three strongest Dark guilds. They kind of act like the Council for other Dark guilds."

Now thoroughly frightened, Lucy shuffled slightly away from Natsu. A warm hand found its way onto her shoulder, comforting her.

"Don't worry, you're still a newbie, no one is going to make you go on any missions that require heavy fighting. Besides, you can pick whatever job you want from that board over there."

He pointed at a board labelled 'Request Board' at the back of the guild, next to the stairs. Noticing them for the first time, Lucy opened her mouth to ask about them, but was interrupted before she could begin.

"No, you can't go up the stairs, the second floor is for S-class mages only."

This time, Gray took up explaining the topic.

"Basically, Master picks certain mages who he deems strong and smart enough to be S-class, and that means that they can go on more dangerous missions that are kept on the second floor. There are also SS-class wizards, who can take even more dangerous jobs.

Jobs are graded based on the level of skill and time required to complete it, as well as the danger. There's D-class all the way to A-class jobs on the board down here. On the board upstairs, there are S-class quests. Then there are SS-class quests. Above them are SSS-class quests, otherwise known as Decade quests, because no one has completed them in under a decade. Above that, there's one more level of quest. Century quests. Only two people that I can think of have ever gone on a Century quest. One of them is a member of Fairy Tail, and he's out on that quest now, and the other is the highest Wizard Saint."

Lucy simply sat there, absorbing and trying to process the information being dropped on her. She was shaken out of her thoughts when an angry high-pitched voice came from behind them.

"But my daddy should have been back by now! You jerk!"

The source of the yelling was a young boy, who proceeded, to the shock of Lucy and no one else, to punch the old man sitting at the bar in the face.

Natsu merely laughed and called out, "Master, you shouldn't let him hit you like that! Someone might think you like it!"

Lucy's eyes widened. "Master...?"

Meanwhile, the old man had become very flustered and was screaming various profanities at Natsu while the pink haired Saint laughed at him. Mira joined in quickly, and then Elfman and Gray followed suit. Soon the entire guild was laughing at their Master. Finally, he had had enough and stormed off to his office, muttering something about respect.

Natsu finally calmed down and turned to Gray. "Hey, Fullbuster, can you take Lucy here and head to Mt Hakobe? I'd like to search for Macao myself, but I have to be in Era by this afternoon which means catching a train."

Gray glared at him for a moment, then sighed and nodded.

He stepped off of the train, relief flooding his body now that he was finally free from the transportation. When he saw his personal welcoming committee though, he had half a mind to step back on the train and leave, and to hell with the Council.

"Natsu-sama!"

A woman cried out and threw herself into his arms with a flying tackle. Thankfully, he had the foresight to step forward to meet her, otherwise his head would have collided with the now-moving train. As it was, he still got a hard knock to the back of his head. The woman now crouched on all fours over him, like an animal. He groaned. Why, why in the name of all that was holy did they send her to fetch him?

"Hello Ultear, please get off of me."

The woman feigned a hurt look, but stood anyway, letting him right himself. He glanced briefly at the disarray of her outfit, and she took the hint, straightening her previously white kimono. After all, the ground was dusty. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt in that during her tackle, one of her breasts had 'accidentally' slipped out of the garment.

"So, you look good, have you been doing any extra training I should know about?"

Ultear asked him with a wink that was clearly supposed to be sexy, but he found more irritating than anything else.

"No." He responded curtly. He wasn't in the mood for her shenanigans. As they walked alongside each other in silence, she slowly, trying and failing to be inconspicuous, brought her steps closer to him, so that by the time they reached the Council building, he may as well have been wearing her.

Looking up at the building in distaste, Natsu was surprised, in a good way, when Ultear removed herself from his arm. Normally she behaved like a complete... well, he didn't really want to call her anything mean, but she had a habit of embarrassing him and herself in the Council building. Company didn't stop her from being extremely forward in her advances on him. Privately he suspected that his rejection of said advances was somehow encouraging her.

Waiting at the steps to the building was a familiar face. Well, ok, they had their back turned, but only one person wore an eight-bladed sword on their back.

"Serena, how do you do?"

Clearly Ultear wasn't as settled around Serena, Natsu reasoned. That must have been why she let go.

The man Natsu had addressed turned to face him, before huge, identical grins split their faces and they leapt into an embrace that was as fierce as it was friendly. They broke apart, smiles still in place, and shook hands firmly.

"Cut the formal crap, you idiot. It's been too long since you visited me! I'm good, but I'll admit it's lonely without my little brother."

"Fuck off, Serena, if anything, you're the little brother, especially if what Mary told me is true..."

Serena's face melted into one of shock and disbelief. "You... y-you talked to M-Mary?"

Natsu remained serious for a moment before he burst out laughing, doubling over and slamming his hand against his knee.

Serena looked mortified for a moment, then suddenly understanding dawned on his face and he joined in with the laughter. The two men put an arm around each others shoulders and stood up, looking at Ultear, who was busy sulking.

She glared at Natsu and spoke in a mock angry tone.

"So he gets the whole excited greeting, but you aren't excited to see me even when I take my breast out for you?"

Natsu facepalmed. "I was going to assume that was an accident."

Ultear giggled. "Nope!" She was far too happy for someone who had bared herself to the world. "See?"

Both of the men's jaws hit the ground when she ripped open her kimono, exposing her entire chest. Natsu quickly looked away, thanking everyone he could think of, from God to Zeref, that no one else was around. Suddenly Serena started laughing again. Confused, Natsu asked him to explain what was so funny.

"It's night right now, and she's just proved that there's more than one moon in the sky tonight! Ha!"

Natsu sighed and slapped his perverted friends face. Ultear looked dissappointed that Natsu hadn't commented on her breasts, but sighed and put them away.

"Come on." She said, using her best bored voice, "Let's get this meeting done already."

"So what you're saying is, you need us, as the top two Wizard Saints, to work together and kill the dragon, and that if we do, we will each receive a single request from the King as well as a billion Jewel?"

The Chairman sighed. "Yes, 2nd Saint Dragneel, way to sum it up."

Silence filled the massive chamber for a moment before the two Saints turned to each other and uttered a single word. "Awesome!"

AND that's a wrap guys, I just had to write this!" So here we are! I don't know if I will continue this, maybe, maybe not. We will see. Love you all!


	2. Chapter 2: Lullaby

I do not own Fairy Tail.

"Hey... Natsu... how much longer is this thing going to take?"

"Not much... ugh... longer now, Serena."

The two Wizard Saints were seated across from each other in a carriage compartment of a train bound for Magnolia. They currently made quite the pathetic sight as both suffered from severe motion sickness.

Finally, after an eternity of torment (an hour and a half), the train pulled into Magnolia station. Natsu grabbed his friend by the collar and dragged him off the train as quickly as possible. Once safely on the platform, he requipped his Wizard Saint regalia away in exchange for a more everyday outfit. Of course, God Serena would never do such a thing as be seen in public in anything less than his best (read: most dramatic) clothing.

Arms around each other's shoulders, joking and laughing all the way, the pair of boyish Saints traversed the city towards the Fairy Tail guild. God Serena hadn't actually been there before, but he had heard plenty about it from his 'little brother' Natsu.

The doors to the guild hall were already open when they reached them, and Natsu immediately realised why it was so quiet. Standing with her back to them, in the middle of the guild hall, was none other than Erza Scarlet, the Titania.

"Ah, shit, I was hoping to avoid her this time..." Natsu complained quietly. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Stepping inside, the pair took note of the rather large decorated horn that sat on it's end beside Erza. Coughing politely to notify her of his presence, Natsu waited patiently for her to address him. No one else had noticed him and his companion as of yet.

"And as for you Nat... NATSU?!"

Upon realising whom it was she had been about to berate, Erza stopped mid-rant and threw herself at Natsu, pulling him into a crushing hug against her breastplate.

God Serena muttered "lucky bastard" under his breath, but thankfully no one heard him.

"Ugh, yeah Erza, it's me, could you let go now?"

Turning bright red, Erza stepped back, letting Natsu drop to the floor with a loud "Ow!".

Shaking her head to rid herself of any 'impure' thoughts, she turned to the man she didn't recognise.

"And who might you be? Do you know Natsu?"

God Serena grinned. Natsu, knowing or at least guessing what was coming, groaned heavily.

Striking various dramatic poses as he spoke, causing everyone in Fairy Tail to stare at him like he was crazy, God Serena began his introductory address.

"I know my fellow Wizard Saint Natsu Dragneel because we are both Wizard Saints. I am the marvelous, spectacular, fabulous, all-powerful God Serena! You have all been blessed by my holy presence on this day! Ah, I, God Serena, the Hybrid Theory, the First Wizard Saint and God of Ishgar, do GAH!"

He would have continued for some time had Natsu not quickly righted himself and smacked his fist on top of his idiotic older brother's head. Serena gasped and rubbed his head, before stalking off to a corner to sulk that his entrance had been ruined.

Around the guild, people were whispering all kinds of things, most of them along the lines of "is that really the first Wizard Saint?"

"I CAN HEAR ALL OF YOU, YOU KNOW!" The less-than-intimidating Serena called out from the corner he had huddled in.

Erza turned her attention back to Natsu.

"So, the First Wizard Saint is here... why?"

Natsu replied in a flippant manner that greatly annoyed Erza.

"Oh, we just have to let the old man know that Serena and I are taking a Century quest, so we'll be gone for a while, k?"

"WHAT!!"

His hands clasped over his ears thanks to the rather loud shout, Natsu glared at Erza, then at everyone else in the guild. They had all shouted as well, so in his mind they were equally at fault for his poor ears.

Seeing that he wasn't getting a response from Erza, he tried a more direct approach.

"Where is the master? I need to speak with him!"

Erza froze. Turning around to Mira, she silently begged the barmaid for help. Mira smiled and stepped out from behind the bar.

"Natsu, Master has stepped out of the guild to attend the regular guild masters meeting. Erza has only just returned and I think, before you got here, she looked like she had something important to discuss, right Erza?"

The scarlet haired requip mage nodded.

"Yes. In short, I need your help, Natsu. On my way back to Fairy Tail I encountered some unsavoury individuals who wore the guild mark of the dark guild Eisenwald. When I confronted them, one of them called out to another. He said "Kageyama, get Lullaby out of here!" Before I could stop him, he had disappeared into shadow. I suspect that Lullaby is a dangerous magic item and we should apprehend them as soon as possible!"

Serena, immediately over his hissy fit now that there was something interesting going on, jumped forward.

"Yes, Lullaby isn't just a powerful Dark magic artefact, it's also a demon from the book of Zeref! It's said that anyone who hears it's voice dies! Can we kill it, Natsu, pleeeeease?"

Natsu grinned, completely used to his fellow Saint's antics. "Hell yeah we can, Serena! Let's kick some demon butt!"

Erza butted in.

"And stop Eisenwald."

Natsu shrugged. "Yeah. And do the thing."

"Erigor... Here it is, Lullaby."

A tall man with dark hair knelt before the ace of Eisenwald. The massive scythe on his shoulders glinted dangerously in the half-light.

"Thank you Kageyama. I trust that there were no complications?"

He growled when the shadow mage froze, and hesitated before answering. Lifting the scythe off of his shoulders, he gently pressed the razor-sharp edge of the blade to Kageyama's throat. Speaking in a voice barely above a whisper, he asked again.

"Kageyama?"

The man began trembling before bursting out "Titania from Fairy Tail! She cornered us and one of the idiots called out the name of the flute before I got away!"

When nothing happened, he looked up hopefully only to see a dark gleam in Erigor's eyes.

"Then you die."

With that, Erigor flexed his arms and back muscles, bringing the scythe up quickly and slicing cleanly through Kageyama's neck. The former shadow mage's head rolled down the train car to the door, leaving a trail of blood, as the body convulsed on the compartment floor. Putting one foot heavily on the corpses back, Erigor looked around at the other underlings.

"Change of plan. Instead of heading to Clover, we're going to lay a trap for some Fairies..."

The train came to a stop in Onibus station. Natsu and Serena sighed in relief as their motion sickness vanished.

"One more stop, and we'll have reached the place I fought Eisenwald."

Erza looked at the two Dragon Slayers sympathetically. If they were anyone else, especially anyone else from Fairy Tail, she would have adopted a tough love mentality and forced them to get over their motion sickness. However, this was Natsu. He'd always been somewhat... special... to Erza, ever since he had helped her work things out with Mira. The fact that God Serena was Natsu's self-proclaimed older brother put him in a similar boat.

That was when Eisenwald decided to make their move. Suddenly, screams started coming from the next car over. Immediately, the three wizards were on their feet. The door to the compartment opened, and a smug-looking man stepped through the door.

"Everyone off the train! It belongs to Eisenwald now!"

The smug look on his face didn't stay there for very long. God Serena picked the man up by the bridge of his nose with two fingers and threw him out the window.

"Please get as far away from here as you can! There will be a battle here, you don't want to get caught up in the crossfire."

Erza had turned to face the remaining occupants of their train car, and began barking orders.

God Serena and Natsu simply stepped out of the car, ready to engage Eisenwald.

"So, the Fairies come out to play! Prepare for death, scum."

Erigor was crouched on a steel post that played host to some of the PA lacrima of the station. His scythe was held lazily in one hand, hanging below him.

God Serena smirked and ignored the man, taking stock of his surroundings.

Natsu chuckled darkly and stared intently at Erigor, his eyes boring into the man.

Slightly unnerved, but not yet discouraged, the Shinigami stood up to his full height, thinking he would look more imposing. His underlings began to gather around the base of the pole, around fifty men in total.

Serena was enjoying the lovely sight of the man he'd thrown twitching on the pavement.

Identical evil grins were splitting the faces of all of the Dark mages. They had the numbers advantage, so obviously they would beat these two wizards easily, right?

It might have done them some good to look at the Wizard Saint clock hanging from God Serena's back. But, of course, they were so caught up in their 'fun' that they missed that tiny detail.

In a cold voice that would have frightened, maybe, a five year old, Erigor gave the order he'd been longing to.

"Crush them."

Natsu stepped forward to meet the tide of men and in an instant they were all knocked out. He'd decided the most efficient way to deal with these morons was to show them who they were dealing with by releasing his magic aura for a little while. After a mere second of exposure they were flattened. Erigor, who was a fair distance from the fight, coward that he was, was only partially affected by the aura's power and intensity.

Deciding that discretion is the better part of running the fuck away, he immediately activated his wind magic and took off into the sky. Turning around for a moment once he was clear of the station, he cast a Wind Wall to stop the mages from following him.

Inside the Wind Wall, Erza had just finished removing the passengers from the train. She ran to Natsu's side and stated "That looks like a wall made of wind."

Natsu nearly, very nearly, slammed his head into a concrete pylon. He simply stretched out his hand and sent out a wave of fire towards the wall. The fire burned a hole in the wall, and then proceeded to burn up the rest of the wind magic.

Erza gave a low whistle, before grabbing hold of Natsu's hand and blushing.

"That was... pretty cool, Natsu."

Natsu groaned internally. 'WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH WOMEN?!'

On the outside, he maintained an expression of passivity, and turned towards his wayward partner-in-crime. Serena was now poking the stupid mage who'd entered their compartment with a point of his many-bladed sword.

"Oi, Serena, we should probably stop Erigor. If we do, maybe we can fight Lullaby!"

That immediately got the attention of the highest ranked Wizard Saint.

"Oh, please! Let's go! Let's go!" The saint may have been debatably older than Natsu, but he was definitely not more mature.

The trio of mages stepped outside of the station. Although Erza's eyes were not powerful enough to see Erigor's retreating figure, both of the Saints could still make out the speck that was the Wind mage. Natsu sighed resignedly. They were going to have to fly to catch up to Erigor, which meant Erza had to play ride-along... and there was no way in hell he would let his perverted brother take on that task.

"Erza, get on my back and hold on tight. We're going for a fly."

He became a bit suspicious when Erza immediately jumped onto him, wondering why she hadn't questioned his order, but pushed the thought to the side for now.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flight of the Fire Dragon!"

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flight of the Hybrid Dragon!"

Wings of iridescent fire spread out behind Natsu, while shimmering rainbow wings came from God Serena's back. Crouching low in unison, the two Dragon slayers then pushed off from the ground, erupting into a high speed flight that made Erza dizzy.

As enthralling as the prospect of riding Natsu was... ahem... she couldn't quite handle the speed that they were flying at. After only a minute, they had closed the distance so much that they were now halfway between Erigor and the station, and if the wind hadn't been threatening to tear her eyes out of their sockets, Erza would have been able to clearly make out his form.

Another minute brought them neck and neck with the Eisenwald mage.

Calling out in a cheerful voice, Natsu made his presence known to Erigor. "Hey man, lovely day for flying!"

Erigor was so surprised that he literally dropped out of the sky. Catching himself a few metres before he hit the ground, he growled at the mages who'd followed him as they landed gracefully. Except for Erza, who tumbled off of Natsu's back and crumpled in a heap.

Natsu spared a single glance for the girl, before turning his full attention to Erigor.

"There are two ways this conversation can go, buddy. One; you hand over Lullaby, run away and don't die today, and two; you refuse and we kill you, then take Lullaby. Your choice."

God Serena's tone had lost its playfulness. Frankly, even though Erigor still had no idea just how terrified he should be, he was scared out of his mind anyway. Deciding that living was definitely higher on his to-do list than being slaughtered by these two freaks of nature, he shakily held out the flute with his non-scythe-wielding hand. To his surprise, God Serena simply gestured with one finger, and his magic pulled the flute to his hand.

Making a shooing motion with his free hand, he galvanised Erigor into moving, and the once-proud Shinigami flew off in terror.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking Natsu?"

"I think I am Serena."

With that, God Serena poured a somewhat large amount of magic energy into the flute, forcing it to assume it's true form.

A giant beast made of wood suddenly stood before them.

 **"Who has awoken me from my slumber? I will kill you all and devour your s... YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"**

Lullaby's monologue was interrupted, by himself, when he suddenly noticed exactly who was standing before him. He pointed hysterically at Natsu, suddenly shivering in fear.

 **"I swear, I didn't do anything like last time Mas..."**

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Natsu screamed, leaping forward with his fists alight, interrupting the demon before it could spill his secret.

"Fire Dragon's Piercing Blades!" He punched forward a dozen times, each time a hit landed, a javelin of fire burst through the enormous wooden demon. Lullaby was suddenly and understandably unable to say anything at all.

"Now Serena!"

The other Dragon Slayer stepped forward and took up an enormous breath.

"Sea King Dragon's ROAR!"

The rush of water, which Natsu then heated to boiling point for fun, engulfed the ridiculously outmatched demon and broke its already battered body apart. Serena released the attack as he spotted Natsu readying his own.

The second Wizard Saint had leapt high into the air above Lullaby, and began to gather his flames.

"With a Dragon flame in my left hand, and a Demon flame in my right hand, put the two together: FIRE DEMONS DRACONIC BRILLIANT FLAMES OF HELL!"

The instant the attack hit, Lullaby was vapourised. Another demon from the Books of Zeref destroyed.

Landing lightly on his feet, next to the awestruck Erza, who thankfully hadn't heard the attack he had used, he stared at Serena for a moment. Making up his mind, he quickly pulled Erza back on top of him (ugh, I'm sorry) and called out to his fellow Saint.

"Come on, we better head to Clover, the Master still needs to be informed."

With that, the two Dragon Slayers once again chanted their flight spells and took off, continuing their course towards Clover.

It was dark by the time the three wizards walked into the large meeting hall that currently housed the Master's meeting. Immediately upon entry, all heads turned to look at the new arrivals. After all, it isn't every day that the highest ranked Wizard Saint makes an appearance.

Natsu was the one to speak, he'd forced Serena to shut up for the short duration of their visit here.

"Master Makarov? Where are you?"

The short man came running to the front of the crowd then stopped dead in his tracks.

"N-Natsu? And Erza? And !"

He cut himself off suddenly.

"Yes, yes, Master, us, listen I need to go over a couple of things quickly. First, we took out Eisenwald on our way here."

Cheers erupted around the room.

"Second, First and I destroyed a Demon of Zeref, Lullaby."

Even louder cheers.

"And finally, can we leave Erza with you? First and I have a Century quest to go on, by direct request of the Council."

Silence.

"Well, thanks, bye!"

With that, Natsu and Serena walked out of the room, leaving them in a state of shock as Erza stared wistfully at Natsu's back.

HELLO! Thank you all so much for reading! I'm glad you managed to get this far in the story! I know that nothing is really exciting yet because there are NO dramatic stakes, but why else would I be having the two Dragon Slayer's hunting Acnologia? Hehehe... the stakes don't get much higher than that. Anyway, love and peace to you all!


	3. Chapter 3: Wendy Marvell

I still don't own Fairy Tail.

ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

The badly maintained road was not very comfortable to walk on, unsurprisingly. Natsu's feet hurt, and he was sure that Serena's were the same way. He took a bite of the stale bread in his hand. Why hadn't they bought food in Clover?

They had flown most of the way here, but it was... inadvisable to eat and fly, so they were grounded until their food was eaten. They would need to hunt that night, which at least meant he could fly a bit more.

Choking down the last piece of bread, he looked to his friend. God Serena also appeared to have finished his meal, and caught Natsu staring.

"Let's fly again."

In seconds, they were in the air once more, moving far faster than they had when they chased Erigor.

He loved flying. There was something incredible, such a sense of freedom and a fierce joy to it that he couldn't help but laugh. At least now they were covering ground quickly, and the monotony of the road could be broken up quite nicely thanks to the change in pace and perspective. The bit of forest they were looking down on now was dotted with some kind of flowering creeper growing amongst the tree tops.

He shook his head, a small smile on his face. He was really bored if he was noticing god damn flowers.

"HEY NATSU!" Serena had pulled ahead some distance and was now shouting back to him.

"WHAT?"

"I SEE A TOWN, ARE WE STOPPING?"

Natsu put on a burst of speed, quickly catching up to his fellow Saint, and began to descend towards the town that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

Looking around, Natsu could see a few people walking through the streets. They eventually came to a stop in the centre of the town, but they immediately knew something was wrong. Something was... off with these people.

"Natsu...?"

Serena looked questioningly at his brother, unsure if he was the only one to notice.

"I know. Why don't they have a scent?"

"That would be because of me."

Both Saints turned their attention to the short old man standing before them. He appeared to be the chief of the village, wearing a large headress that was beautifully coloured. He looked forlornly back at the two larger men.

"Come with me."

Not waiting for a response, he turned around and walked off, moving towards a large building at the end of the road. Natsu turned back to Serena, who shrugged.

Following the old man, they were surprised when, upon entering the building after him, they smelt something familiar. Another Dragon Slayer was here? It was certainly interesting news.

"You two... you are Wizard Saints by your garments, yes?"

The pair nodded.

"Very well, perhaps you can help us out. You see, none of this village is actually real. It's an incredibly powerful illusion."

"Ah."

Natsu simply nodded again, while Serena had a moment of flashy, over the top excitement for... some... reason. God only knows why he does what he does.

"I created this illusion because of a young girl who was left here. I created it so that she would not be lonely growing up, and I created a false guild, Cait Shelter, to give her a guild to join and work for. Her name is Wendy Marvell, and she is a..."

"Dragon Slayer, yes." Serena interrupted the man's speech, impatience growing by the second. "We are both Dragon Slayers as well, we knew the moment we smelled her."

"That makes things simpler then." The man smiled at the pair. "I would like to make an official request of you. Please take Wendy with you, and help her to become strong, and find a new family. My magic is fading, and the world grows ever darker. I can't protect her for much longer."

Natsu sensed disaster approaching as Serena opened his mouth and quickly slammed his fist into the Saint's head.

"Ow... What was that for?"

Ignoring him, Natsu looked at the old man again. He was well prepared to take on Wendy as his apprentice, but to take her on this Century quest? That seemed borderline psychotic. However...

"We will accept your request...?"

"Roubaul."

"Roubaul. Wendy will come with us, and she will be trained to become one of the strongest women alive. That much I will promise you. Is there anything else you want us to do before we allow you to... rest in peace?"

Roubaul's eyes widened. He shook his head slowly. "There is one thing, but that is my burden to bear for now."

"Very well. When may we meet this Wendy?" Serena spoke up again, for once acting mature.

"Who's meeting me?" A timid voice came from behind the pair of adult Dragon Slayers. Since her smell was everywhere in this place, they hadn't noticed her approaching.

Serena's eyes almost leapt out of his skull, and he lunged at Wendy, engulfing her in a hug and squeezing.

"Oh my god, Natsu, she's so adorable! Look at her hair, it's exactly the perfect shade of blue and it's so soft! Wow, she's just too cute! Can we keep her, can we, please?!"

His tirade was put to an end when Natsu, taking pity on the little girl, pulled his brother's arms apart. Wendy dropped to the floor, gasping for air.

"You ruffians! How dare you hurt Wendy! What is your problem?"

Natsu looked to the door and saw a cat. A white cat. A white cat wearing clothes, standing on it's hind legs, and speaking.

Pointing at the creature, he said. "You're a cat."

Groaning, the white feline reached out a hand to help Wendy up.

"My name is Carla. This is Wendy, as I'm sure you are aware. If you are accepting the Master's request, then I'll be coming too. Someone has to protect Wendy from you barbarians."

Roubaul looked at Serena and Natsu in turn, giving them a sympathetic look, mouthing "Sorry" at them as he did so. Wendy frowned and turned to the old man.

"What do you mean? What request, Master?"

He sighed, this was going to hurt her. "I've made a request of these two mages to take care of you and train you, Wendy. You'll be leaving Cait Shelter, permanently, and learning more about the world. I was planning on asking another guild to help me with this sooner or later, but these wizards appeared here by a stroke of luck. They happen to be Wizard Saints, some of the most powerful mages in Fiore. I asked them to take you with them and they agreed."

Wendy looked at him for a moment before tears welled up in her eyes. She leapt onto the old man, knocking him over.

"But I don't want to leave you! After Grandine left, the only home I've ever known was here!"

The man put one arm around Wendy, smiling, and said "It's ok Wendy, these two are going to be like father's for you. They'll be your new family. And the best part is, they are Dragon Slayers too!"

Surprised and more than a little overwhelmed, Wendy turned to look at the two men.

"You're both Dragon Slayers?"

They nodded, before speaking in turn.

"I am God Serena, the Hybrid Dragon Slayer, First-ranked Wizard Saint."

"Natsu Dragneel, Fire Dragon Slayer, Second-ranked Wizard Saint."

Carla looked at them as if seeing them in a whole new light.

"You... You two are the two strongest mages in Fiore?! What in the heavens are you doing all the way out here?"

Natsu didn't respond right away, instead he shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the small girl who now wore a smile despite her tears.

"So what do you think, Wendy? You wanna come with us old farts?"

God Serena muttered "Speak for yourself" under his breath, which the other two Dragon Slayers heard. Natsu laughed.

Wendy giggled at the comment and put on her best smile, her tears long gone.

"Of course I'll come, it'll be awesome!"

Four days.

That's how long it took for the adult Dragon Slayers to get sick of Carla's attitude. Since she couldn't fly as fast as them, the two took it in turns to carry either her or Wendy. Wendy loved flying with Natsu in particular, as he would let her ride on his shoulders. Serena insisted, however, to hold the girl all the way. Even on the ground, he loved to cuddle the little girl, constantly reminding them just how cute she was.

Carla was a different story. She fussed about everything, constantly pestering the two Slayers for details about their mission or reprimanding them for lack of manners. When she flew with Serena, she would insist upon sitting on his shoulder, saying that she didn't want his 'barbaric hands' on her fur.

With Natsu, seeing as he was far gentler and more respectful with Wendy, she allowed him to hold her in his arms. It had nothing to do with the comforting warmth he emitted, no-siree!

As I said, four days was the breaking point. After reminding Natsu once again that it was rude to talk with your mouth full, Carla froze when her comment drew very much unwanted attention. Natsu turned to her with a deathly glare, his eyes glowing golden.

"I've had about enough of you cat. Last I checked, we've been doing all the travelling, hunting, cooking and cleaning for you for the last four days. Keep up the ungrateful shite, and we'll feed you to the bloody Dragon before we kill it."

He hadn't meant to let slip about the Dragon, but he figured it would help prove his point.

Carla was flabbergasted. They were going to kill a Dragon?! In her shock, she somehow managed to ignore the threat of being fed to said Dragon.

Wendy jumped on the revelation eagerly.

"Are we going to see a Dragon? Are we really Daddy?"

For some reason or another, Wendy had taken to calling Natsu Daddy, and Serena her big brother. Carla didn't approve, but she had learned (thirty seconds ago) not to annoy the Dragon Slayers, and since they were fine with it she didn't see the harm.

Natsu sighed.

"Yes, we are going to see a Dragon. Its name is Acnologia, and its just about the most dangerous thing in existence. Dont worry, we wont take you any near THAT monster. If anything happened to you, Id never forgive myself. Our mission is to kill the old b... thing."

Holding back the curse at the last moment, he watched as Wendys expression shifted from awed to terrified and back.

"Do you really think you and big brother can kill Ac... Anolo... the Dragon?"

Natsu laughed and ruffled Wendys hair, which caused her to squeal happily.

"Yeah, dont you worry Wendy. Nothing is gonna get past us. Well kill it so that it can never hurt you or anyone else. I promise, Ill end Acnologia. I promise that Ill protect you."

The girl snuggled into the broad warm chest of her adoptive father. Serena cooed softly at the adorable pair. It might have only been mid-day, but she was so comfortable that Wendy was half tempted to snooze off in Natsu's arms.

Natsu was currently leaning back against a large willow, and he was contemplating the same thing as Wendy. Sleep did seem like a very appealing option in the warmth, with a full belly. He lazily cracked open an eye that he hadn't realised he'd closed, and gestured to Serena and Carla to join him. The other Dragon Slayer rose from his half squat and tiptoed over to the pair. He quickly shuffled into Natsu's side, leaning his head on the Fire Dragon Slayer's shoulder, and closed his eyes. He'd taken off his back ornament when they'd stopped to eat.

Carla watched on with a small, unbidden smile as the little family slept peacefully. It was the first time they'd all been asleep at once since the trip began, and honestly she was incredibly comforted by the sight. It affirmed for her that these two men would take care of her Wendy.

Setting aside her pride, she sat herself in Serena's lap and curled up, ready to join them in sleep.

"I miss him."

"Shut up."

"Shutting up does not make me miss him less."

"Neither does complaining."

Erza stood, frustrated. "Fine! I'll just go break something."

Gray watched her leave, his own annoyance evident. The Titania had been a bit crazy since Natsu's departure. While Gray didn't really care, he would admit that at least things were more interesting when the flame-brain was around. In his absence, Erza was going a bit stir-crazy. She seemed to be at a complete loss as to what she should do.

On some level, he understood her pain. The man she was interested in was on so much higher of a level than her that she couldn't stand by his side and help him. He was off on a Century quest, with the first Wizard Saint no less, while she was stuck back at the guild, restricted to S-class quests. Of course she felt helpless.

But what he didn't understand was why it was Natsu that she felt so attracted to. It might have been his personal opinion of the guy influencing his thoughts, but he couldn't see that Natsu had any qualities that would endear him to the opposite sex.

Makarov watched the girl leave and sighed. He also understood the torturous thoughts plaguing her. He knew, however, that it would only bring her more pain to be with him and see for herself just how outmatched she was. She was a proud woman, and with good reason. Easily the strongest woman in Fairy Tail, Erza had earned the title Titania. It was just one of life's little indiscretions that she was only fourth in line for the title of Fairy Tail's most powerful mage.

Gildarts, Laxus and Natsu... They were all far more powerful than her. Hell, Gildarts might be stronger than Makarov himself, and Natsu was stronger than him without a doubt. Makarov could no more stand up to the second Wizard Saint than Macao could stand up to him.

It never quite felt right, though. Watching someone so young attain such incredible power... he shuddered to think what the cost of such strength was. Natsu had not come by his power lightly. He just hoped that the boy's past wouldn't come back around to bite him.

"Maybe I should find them a job to do..." the Master muttered.

Gray might not admit it to himself, but he was always more sullen without his rival around. The new girl, Lucy could use some experience. And of course, Erza needed to have her mind taken off of Natsu.

"To hell with it, Erza can take them all on an S-class quest. Gray's practically S-class himself. It's his immaturity that's held him back, nothing more."

His decision made, he trotted downstairs to the bar. A drink was an adequate reward for his decision, he thought. He deserved a lot more rewards, dealing with these brats all the time.

He took the beer from Mira, thanking her absentmindedly, before heading back up the stairs to stare at the S-class request board. Immediately, he knew which one would benefit them the most. The Cursed Island, Galuna! A far simpler job than the others; one of which involved rounding up fire drakes that had flown over from Alvarez. Laxus would probably take that one.

It didn't seem like there would be many complications on the job. A simple curse-breaking mission? He snorted. S-class requests were never simple. He just hoped that Erza could handle it... and them. Plus, the newbie Celestial Wizard could get a new Gate Key for the trouble!

He returned to his beer, grabbing the job as he did so, humming congratulatorily to himself.

It was the next morning before the admittedly lazy guild master actually did anything about his decision. He had 'celebrated' it quite enthusiastically yesterday, and had completely forgotten about actually implementing it. He was reminded by the sight of a sullen red-headed knight walking through the doors of the guild.

He quickly leapt down to the lower floor from his little perch atop the rail of the second floor, request in hand.

"Erza! Can you see me in my office in ten minutes please? You too, Gray, Lucy. Oh, and Cana, you can come too."

When Erza gave him a questioning look, he flashed the job request at her faster than she could see it properly, and headed back upstairs to his office.

Ten minutes couldn't pass quickly enough for the four selected wizards. At ten minutes, on the dot, the four were standing, waiting, outside Makarov's office. Erza knocked once, then swung the door open hard.

Makarov groaned as he imagined the damage to the wall from Erza's thoughtless actions, and stood up on top of his desk.

"Alright children... I have a special mission for you. Erza, I will be trusting you to lead these three on a special S-class mission. You will take passage to Galuna Island and remove the curse on the island! No buts. Take a few minutes to ask questions, if you need to."

Surprisingly, Erza barely even batted an eyelid at the revelation. Then Makarov smacked himself mentally. 'She's an S-class wizard, and I asked her to come with people who weren't S-class. Of course she would suspect that I would ask something of this kind.'

Gray and Cana both looked flabbergastered and seemed unable to speak, while Lucy looked suddenly quite terrified.

The Requip mage stepped forward and looked carefully at the old man. "Galuna Island... do you know what kind of curse it is?"

Makarov nodded. "The villagers who submitted the request have stated that this curse began when the moon over the island turned purple. Since then, they have become demons."

Gray froze.

"D-demons?"

Memories he had thought buried in his subconscious punched through into the forefront of his mind, the terrifying roar of Deliora once again filling his ears.

Makarov noticed the boys reaction, and the fact that no one else did. He nodded at Gray, a sullen expression on his face.

"Yes, Gray, demons. Although not the same as the one you remember. These villagers are people, they just look like demons." He looked sternly at the boy. "They have done nothing wrong, Gray. Do you understand?"

The boy nodded silently, his discomfort with the situation obvious.

Well... At least this situation might give Gray a chance to resolve some of his issues. The lingering trauma of the two Deliora attacks he had survived might be eased, however slightly, and he could begin to truly move on.

The aged Master waited a few moments and when no more questions were forthcoming, he sighed. "Good luck to you, my children. Erza... bring them home safe."

Erza stood at attention and nodded stiffly.

And thus, the expedition to Galuna Island was underway.

"Time for a little spar, Wendy. I'll help you, ok?"

Natsu extended his hand to Wendy, grinning. The girl looked up in awe and smiled back, grasping the proffered hand gently.

"Are you sure I won't just be in the way, Daddy?"

Natsu shook his head and glanced over at his friend. "What do you reckon, Serena? You versus me and Wendy?"

Serena threw his arms out and laughed. And laughed. And kept laughing...

Wendy watched in confusion, and Carla in disgusted amusement (a most peculiar mix of emotions) while Natsu simply smiled. Turning to Wendy, he laid down the plan.

"He's letting us have the first move. I'll focus on blocking or deflecting his attacks, you focus on dodging and attacking him, got it?"

Wendy nodded, determination writing itself over her face. She opened her mouth and gathered up some air into a dense clump of magic, before yelling "Sky Dragon's Roar!".

A torrent of swirling air flew into Serena, pushing him back... slightly. He looked at her, as if appraising her, his mind focussed now that something interesting was going to happen. He lifted a finger and flicked it forward, sending a rush of Sea King Dragon magic at the girl. It wasn't much, not for him, he hadn't even used an actual spell.

To the diminutive girl, the oncoming waters resembled a tsunami. She froze up for just a moment too long and was only saved from being slammed into the surrounding trees by Natsu throwing up a shield of fire that split the water around them.

"Wendy! Hit him before he attacks again!"

The shout galvanised the girl into action, letting out a second roar. This roar was larger, the adrenaline pumping through her far too much for her to control her magic. She immediately felt exhausted as she watched the roar, which was nearly trebled in size compared to her first, speed towards her sparring opponent.

God Serena grinned madly. "Yes! YES!!" He stood and took the roar attack head on, feeling his magic rush to heal the tiny scratches that were appearing on his face and arms. His clothing was being whipped around so much that it started to tear at the seams.

Wendy couldn't believe that she was doing this, couldn't believe how much power she actually had! She cut off the roar, and collapsed to her knees, magically drained.

Natsu held out a hand to Serena, and the first Saint stopped as the Second walked Wendy out of the way gently. Their spar was just beginning.

Returning to the battlefield, Natsu took up a ready stance. Sensing eyes on him, he turned and grinned at Wendy, who was watching excitedly. She smiled back at him, and he faced his opponent once more.

Not waiting for Natsu to ready himself again, Serena screamed out "Sea King Dragon's Howling Wings!" and jumped forwards to attack Natsu. His companion sprinted forward, sliding directly under the whips of water.

Leaping high as soon as he touched the ground, Serena summoned up a second Dragon Slayer magic and combined it with the first to create a water spout that rocketed towards Natsu, who was still running. Natsu grinned before suddenly skidding to a stop and diving backwards, landing on his hands just inside the spout.

He was quickly taken up by the winds but they weren't enough to damage him as the scales of his Dragon Force covered him.

"Curse: Demonic Dragon's Gaze!"

Letting some of his curse powers seep into his Dragon Force, he caused the temperature in front of him to raise so high that it dissipated the water spout instantly.

Serena growled and activated his Hellfire Dragon Force. He couldn't keep up with the heat without it. He might not be as proficient in Fire magic as Natsu, but this way he could at least avoid the area of effect Natsu's magic created.

Meanwhile, Wendy and Carla were looking on in horror as the ground turned molten and trees seemed to vanish into mid-air. Wendy sprang to her feet, despite her exhaustion, running further from the battle. She really didn't want to get hit by any of those attacks!

Natsu smirked and launched forward. His intent was to make this a physical battle now. With his current state, he didn't need to use more than 40% of his maximum power and he could keep Serena off balance. The only way his brother could turn the tables would be to use the Hybrid Drive, or even the Hybrid Dragon Force, but he wouldn't do that. It was too much for a simple spar. And besides, if he did, he would lose most of the heat resistance granted by the Hellfire Dragon Force.

No, a fistfight was what this needed to stay as. He spun quickly right before he made contact with Serena and slammed his ankle into the man's jaw, sending him sprawling. The First Wizard Saint wasn't down for long though, as he quickly jumped to his feet and then up and over a clawed fist that threatened to hit his temple. Serena grabbed Natsu's Dragon wings at the shoulders as he sailed over, somersaulting and throwing Natsu to the ground.

Natsu left out a roar of rage as he slammed hard into the liquid fire that covered their battlefield. His wings were fairly sensitive for something covered in scales... he did not appreciate them being grabbed.

"Damn you SERENA!!"

He got up so quickly Wendy couldn't see him move, and launched another punch directly at Serena's face. This time, his magic power skyrocketed and a huge exhaust of fire trailed behind his elbow, pushing him forward faster.

Serena's eyes widened. He barely had time to raise his hand from his side to his chest before the fist impacted his face, sending him flying backwards.

As short as it was, the fight was over the moment Natsu's fist connected. A blow like that had consequences, even though they were only sparring. They always ended their spars after a decisive blow was landed.

Besides... Wendy was probably terrified.

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

I couldn't help but bring Wendy into it. She's just so adorable and I feel like she's the bravest of the Dragon Slayers, so I wanted her to become strong too. Or at least, stronger. She is strong.

Also, in case anyone out there wants to take it the wrong way, Wendy calls Natsu Daddy because she sees him as a genuine father figure. I tried to make that clear with the dialogue with the Master of Cait Shelter but I feel it's worth doubling down on it here.

Peace and Love!


	4. Fields of Blood and Fields of Gold

**I do not own Fairy Tail.** **NOW I KNOW that this is really late and I do apologise, I wanted to get this out earlier but it was just... not ready. I would finish, proof-read it, and then decide I hated it and rewrite the whole thing. But here it is... finally.** **Every new 'scene' will have the first word in all caps and bolded in an attempt to make the story a little bit better seperated. Please review and tell me how that works out.** **THE** Port town was bustling amidst midday heat, and Erza was sweating in her armour. The docks were crowded and despite her strength it was tiring to pull her huge cart of luggage through the gathered fishermen.

Gray followed directly behind her, grumbling quietly. If Erza was uncomfortable in the heat, he was in agony. The Ice Make wizard hated the heat. It reminded him far too much of his rival. Not that he really rivalled Natsu anymore...

Lucy walked along happily behind Gray, collecting all of the clothes he subconsciously shed, and handing them back to him. She was wearing her usual skimpy outfit and so wasn't bothered too much by the heat.

Cana had disappeared into a bar, claiming that Erza would be able to just send Gray to fetch her when they found a boat.

A rather unfriendly-looking man with a large cloak obscuring his body, rose from his crouch and watched the strangers pass.

He caught a glimpse of a strange mark on the chest of the man, and his eyes widened. He used his left hand to pull out a piece of paper, and sure enough, the symbols matched.

"Hey Fairy Tail! Over here!" He stood tall and waved with his normal hand.

Erza turned around at the shout, spotting the man in his small boat. Noting the size of the tiny dinghy, she frowned as she realised she would have to leave her beloved cart behind. Or possibly requip the cart away... but then she would be incredibly tired.

Oh well.

Her sudden halt brought Gray crashing into her luggage, and Lucy into Gray.

"Owwwww..."

Both of the younger mages groaned and rubbed their heads, reeling from the impact. Looking to Erza while Lucy continued to make pained noises, Gray rose a questioning eyebrow. Erza looked to the dock where the man stood waiting and pointed with one hand.

"That man called out to us, I believe he is our ride to Galuna Island."

Gray shrugged. "So what are we waiting for? Let's do it."

Erza grasped his shoulder and smiled, then dropped her hand and walked off towards the small boat. She cut a swath through the people around her with her enormous luggage cart, her friends following quickly behind.

"You're the wizards from Fairy Tail?"

The man looked at them harshly. Erza nodded, while Gray and Lucy smiled at him.

"We are responding to the request on Galuna Island. We would be delighted to help you, ...?"

"My name is Bobo. Jump on board... although your luggage won't fit."

Erza grunted. Her luggage glowed for a moment then disappeared, and she stumbled a little to the side, into Gray. He held her shoulder for a moment until she was steady on her feet again.

Suddenly Bobo frowned, and looked at each of them in turn.

"Weren't there meant to be four of you?"

 **GRAY** Lay on his back, his side leaking precious red liquid onto the coarse sand of the beach. He couldn't lift or turn his head right now. He could, however, curse. Which he did. Emphatically.

"Fucking Lyon! Fucking Deliora! Fucking Erza! Fu..."

In between his rather colourful exclamations, he quite suddenly lost consciousness. Erza looked down at him with a frown. She withdrew the pommel of her sword from his crown slowly, as if worried he would suddenly spring up.

When he didn't, she sighed and flopped gracelessly onto the sand beside him. Resting an armoured hand on his forehead, she stared out at the destruction.

The village that had hired them was gone. It turned out that through a rather peculiar set of coincidences, the demon that had killed Gray's parents and teacher, the other student of his former teacher, and himself and the other Fairy Tail wizards had ended up in a no-holds-barred, explosive battle for survival. The weakened Deliora, whose body was robbed of its immortality by Iced Shell, had been throwing around enormous beams of energy. Lyon Vastia, Ur's other student, had been foolishly trying to take the demon on in ranged combat. At least, until a blast of... something... had taken a huge chunk out of Lyon's leg and he had passed out.

At that point, Gray had intervened. As much as he may have hated Lyon in the moments leading up to his decision, he would never leave the man to die. He selflessly and recklessly jumped in front of the incoming blow from Deliora to pull Lyon out of harms way. In return, he had recieved a nasty punch to the side from a wooden golem, courtesy of the doll magic user he didn't know the name of, who had assumed he was attacking Lyon. His side had split open and he had been thrown to the beachfront.

After that, it was on Erza to keep the fight away from her mangled friend, as well as protect Lucy and Cana while they attacked Deliora from range. After a very tense and exhausting hour and a half of combat, Deliora fell.

Erza turned her eyes away from the wreckage of the village, willing herself not to think of the corpses of the villagers that she knew would be there. They- no, she had failed! Failed an S-Class quest... They hadn't solved the villagers problem at all, they'd not only made it worse but indirectly caused the villager's deaths.

It was a terrific blow to her pride as a mage. How could she now face the Master? She was brought out of her thoughts by a gentle touch on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Lucy smiling down at her. For just a moment she felt an urge to slap away the smile, but she saw easily enough that it didn't extend to the girl's eyes.

"Cana just waded out to wash some of the blood and dust off her. She'll join us in a moment, alright Erza?"

The senior mage nodded. She couldn't bring herself to speak. Glancing sideways at Gray, she winced. Why had she knocked him out? Damn, she was too impulsive. She was just angry that she had...

A gasp tore from her lips. In her anger, she had attacked her already injured teammate! Gray had been the only one of the Fairy Tail crew to take more than a glancing blow and he had recieved that damage in acting like a real hero, a true Fairy Tail wizard, saving someone he didn't need to.

She removed her hand from his head and saw the lump forming from her strike. Her head hung in shame, and tears threatened to fall from her eye. She would hand in her resignation to Fairy Tail as soon as she returned... yes, that was a fitting punishment for her betrayal.

She was snapped temporarily from her more morbid thoughts when Cana returned from the water, wielding a bottle of booze.

"I don't know about you guys, but I *hic* wanna get home... seeing as the villagers aren't reaaaaally gonna notice if we take their boats, I say we pick the biggest and make trails."

Erza nodded mutely.

'What would Natsu do?'

The question ricocheted off of the inside of her skull like a fly off of a tank. She couldn't help but compare this mission to the 'team' mission she had gone on with Natsu and the First.

As she allowed herself, Gray slung over her shoulder limply, to be led to a boat, she thought about the two missions.

When she had fought alongside the two Wizard Saints, they had been quite clearly leagues above her and it had showed. She simply followed their instruction. Even so, their decision-making had been excellent and there had been no civilian casualties.

Here though...

She had been the one in charge, the one responsible, and it was on her that all of these people had been injured and killed. And worst of all in her eyes, she hadn't even managed to apprehend the people who had been causing all of the problems in the first place! They'd just... vanished, their injured leader with them!

"Maybe I'm not cut out for this..."

She mumbled under her breath as she jumped over the side of the boat and sat down, lowering the unconscious boy onto the deck.

 **WENDY** Could hardly believe that she was standing on the edge of the country. Her adoptive father and... uncle? Brother? had led her all the way to the borders of Fiore, and they were now standing atop a small, grassy, knoll. In front of the party of four stretched a seemingly endless sea of grass. It wasn't the vibrant green of the guild she had grown up in, nor was it the greying and dying grass of the deep forest. This was like a shimmering curtain of golden fabric, laid across the gentle rolling hills.

"Daddy? Why is this grass so different?"

Before Natsu answered, he reached up to the young girl seated atop his shoulders and grasped her hand. Carla smiled from her place on Serena's shoulder. She had finally relented and allowed him to simply carry her when they were flying, and they had in fact become firm friends over their love of tea. Apparently, the refined senses of a Dragon Slayer meant that the more nuanced tastes of various tea varieties were enhanced, and Serena was a self-proclaimed expert in them.

"Well, Wendy, that is wheat. This is about where the country of Bosco starts. We are swinging around through the wheat-growing region because there is a smaller chance of us being caught. We aren't really supposed to be in their country without permission, but we are only going to spend a day here.

The farmers out this way grow huge fields of wheat which they cart off to the cities to be made into flour for bread! We'll only be seeing a little bit of it though, because we'll turn off into the Wildlands of Merydia before long. That's the best way we have to reach our destination."

Serena was looking pensievely up at the sky, and called out to Natsu.

"Hey, you remember the last time we saw the blue-and-gold?"

Natsu chuckled, an image of a short-tempered brunette with a remarkable degree of handiness with a frying pan coming to mind.

"Hehe, yeah. She was a real firecracker, wasn't she?"

"Wonder if she's still around?"

Natsu shook his head with an amused smile.

"Go on. Just catch up before we get to the border on the other side."

With that, Serena took to the skies, leaving Carla to fall less than gracefully to the ground with a small "Oomf!" The Exceed dusted herself off and fluttered up to Natsu's outstretched arms, and they continued on, Wendy keeping an eye on the ever-shrinking form of their companion.

 **THEY** Stopped for the night an hour after sunset. The fields of wheat, Wendy decided, were just as beautiful after dark as before. A small campfire sat in the middle of a cleared circle of the wheat. Natsu didn't want to accidentally set the field on fire. Sitting out of the wind, Natsu crossed his legs and Wendy happily settled into his lap. They had only some long-keeping biscuits and a few pieces of fruit left, but that wouldn't be a problem after they reached the Wildlands.

The pair sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, and then a faint rustling alerted them to Carla returning from her toilet. The Exceed sat herself in Wendy's lap, and the small family sat gazing into the campfire.

Carla drifted off to sleep in record time, warm and safe. Wendy felt her father's breathing slow and knew he wasn't far off either.

"Daddy?"

Natsu cracked an eye he hadn't realised that he had closed.

"Yes Wendy?"

"Do you love Serena?"

The question floored Natsu. It was so simple and yet so deep, especially coming from the child sitting in his lap. She had never asked something like this before, and to be perfectly honest, he wasn't sure he knew how to properly answer. He decided to try anyway, stubborn git that he was.

"... Yes. He's my brother. He's my family. Until you came along, he was the person I cared most about in this world. But... ah, he... um... heck, I don't know how to explain this..."

Wendy smiled and twisted to look at him. In the innocent way a child tries to comfort their parent, she reached up and put her hand on his cheek, patting it slightly. He reached up and engulfed her tiny, cold hand with his large warm one and smiled down at her.

"It's ok Daddy. I love you."

He chuckled. Letting go of her hand, he pulled her (and by extension, Carla) into a deep hug, one that promised safety to the girl.

He held her for about twenty minutes before her breathing became slower and more rhythmic, and he knew she was asleep. As his eyes closed, he whispered,

"I love you too Wendy... Good night."

 **THE** Next morning brought a messy-haired Wendy a gorgeous pink finger of sunlight peeking through a thin band of cloud. The tips of the wheat had a delightful glow that, and a gentle breeze tousled her hair as she carefully removed Carla from her lap, placing the Exceed on Natsu's leg as she stood gingerly.

Facing towards the fresh sunrise, she began to slowly stretch herself out, straightening her legs and arms. She smiled as the gentle light kissed her face softly.

She stood thus for several minutes before the grunting sounds of Natsu's begrudging waking stirred her from her reverie. It was going to be a good day!

 **THE** Wind was fast, biting and cold high up in the mountains. Snow blew through them more often than not. Hailstones the size of oranges sometimes pelted the mountainside.

He didn't feel any of it though. He hadn't been bothered by something as trivial as weather for a long time. Several centuries, in fact.

Lately though... he had felt something stirring. An urge was beginning to rise up in him, a sense of urgency and duty. It didn't help that he could sense Dragon magic. He still wasn't sure how far away it was, but it wouldn't be long now... then he would be able to destroy these last remnants of the Dragon lineage and rid himself of this ridiculous urge.

Damn that Black Wizard. It really angered him that such an insignificant brat had gained such incredible power. Zeref had never had to work for his power! He hadn't had to fight, tooth and nail, for every drop of blood from a Dragon!

He growled and raised his head slightly. It was honestly boring waiting for these Dragon Slayers to come to him. He just wanted to destroy, yes, destroy them, destroy everyone, everything! He would destroy them ALL!

The urge faded and he laid his head back down. He was not the King of Dragons for nothing. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction of coming to them. If they wanted to die by his claw? They could climb to stand at his feet first.

 **AND IT'S OVER ALL TOO SOON!** There will hopefully be more sometime soon but again, no promises.

Now I know some of you might not like how I skipped over Galuna and the fight with Deliora, but I have reasons for that and it will become apparent rather soon what they are.

LOVE YA'S!


	5. The King Ascends His Throne

**I STILL don't own Fairy Tail.** **Ok, so, yeah, I'm kind of a douche. I buggered off and wrote something else instead of posting this chapter. The reason was: I got bored. There. Flame me already. Please don't though.** **Onward!**

" **YOU'RE** Looking happy there. Did something good happen while I was gone?"

Serena grinned at his little family as they turned to acknowledge him, albeit briefly. As he had been politely asked by his brother Natsu, he had caught up to them just before they hit the far border of Bosco. He'd been somewhat upset to learn that the previous object of his affection had, in fact, married, although that hadn't stopped him from aggressively flirting with her. That is, until she reminded him exactly why they'd left her the first time. Her arms and upper body were incredibly strong; throwing hundred-pound bags of flour around a barn all day does that to you. Thus her frying pan had managed to leave quite the impressive bruise on his ribs.

Her husband thought it was hilarious, of course.

"Welcome back, you reprobate. We spent the time having some quality family time, right Wendy?"

Natsu smiled at the girl walking beside him (she was currently holding his left hand with her right, and Carla's right hand with her left) and she beamed back at him.

"Yep! Daddy got all mushy and sentim... um..."

Natsu shook his head slightly and corrected her gently.

"Sentimental, Wendy."

She nodded determinedly and soldiered on through what she had been trying to say.

"Daddy got all sentimental when I asked him if he loved you."

Serena cocked an eyebrow at that, nodding as Natsu sent him a look that clearly said 'I'll tell you later'. He quickly caught up to Natsu and made a big show of taking his other hand, making Wendy giggle.

They fell into a companionable silence as they walked, simply enjoying the serenity of the walk. Wendy, Natsu and Carla had left behind the golden field's of wheat an hour or so before, which had been replaced by a wide open savannah.

The grass was more orange than gold, and as Carla discovered quite quickly, being the only one not wearing shoes, it was prickly, too. The occassional tree leaned out of the ground, casting a small shadow over the otherwise barren-seeming plain. Far off to the west, the two adult's could see a herd of some animal grazing above the tall grass. Wendy herself barely stood at eye level to the grass.

It was Carla who first broke the silence, a full three hours after Serena's return.

"Serena, I think I owe you an apology. I... I may have only been interested in Wendy's safety, but I was needlessly rude to you in spite of myself. I just want to..."

She was cut off quickly by the Dragon Slayer in question, who raised his hand to forestall her apology and smiled gently.

"Carla, it's fine. Honestly. We both understand. Neither of us would ever let anything happen to Wendy, and that goes double for Natsu. Biggest mother dragon I've ever seen, him."

"Hey!"

Serena snorted at Natsu's indignant shout and continued.

"I honestly don't need you to apologise, because there's nothing for you to apologise for. He... uh... heaven knows I've not always been the most sensible sort..."

At this, Natsu muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

"But I care about those I consider my family. Back in Fiore I may be cocky and flashy, but I know how to choose the time and place for fun. The reason Natsu and I haven't been sparring out here is that we don't know everything about these lands the way we know Fiore. We don't know what a show of power like that could draw down. And besides... it would have been a little bit irresponsible to burn down most of Bosco's supply of wheat for the sake of practice. We do NOT need to start a war."

Carla was rendered temporarily speechless by the eloquence of the usually brusque and silly man, finally shaking her head to clear her thoughts before answering with a smile.

"Fine, I suppose I can abide that. Will you still train Wendy in her magic, regardless?"

At a nod from both Serena and Natsu, Carla settled back into silence.

A mere ten minutes after they had fallen quiet, Natsu quite suddenly wrenched his hand from Wendy's and gripped her shoulder firmly, stopping her from moving forward. Swinging her head to the side, the girl saw that both her father and Serena were standing completely still, looking straight ahead with narrowed eyes. She saw their noses twitch and raised her own to sniff the air.

Sensing a need for quiet, she softly asked "What do you smell? I don't smell anything unusual."

Natsu merely moved his hand up silently, placing a finger over his lips in the universal symbol for silence. For a moment, everything was still, then Wendy was unexpectedly shoved - hard - forward into the ground. She landed with her face turned to the right, and saw that Natsu had pushed her to the ground at the same time as he had dropped.

Serena bellowed "Stay with them, Natsu!" as he released his entire, crushing magical pressure in an instant, leaping forward at the Dark mage that had just attempted to pierce Natsu with an arrow.

"Don't look Wendy! Serena's going to kill them all." Natsu hissed at his daughter before warily rising to a crouch.

What met his eyes was a fountain of blood as Serena's magic-coated fist slashed across the front of the archer, smashing his sternum and crushing his heart and lungs. The motion also took Serena's fist to the man's jaw, knocking his head back so fast that with a snap and an awful tearing sound his neck was partially severed.

Immediately after his fist made contact, Serena was already turning his head to pinpoint the next foe. He spotted a magic circle, half concealed in a bush, and simultaneously smelt the burn of Fire magic from the same spot. Faster than one can blink, he had gathered up a sharply drawn breath and unleashed a Hybrid Dragon's Roar silently towards the area. Of course, he didn't take the time to bother controlling the roar, and so it encapsulated the bush... and a radius of about thirty metres of dirt and plant matter around it. A very short scream came from the surprised mage as he was vapourised.

Once again, his attack was over as quickly as it had come and he was looking for any other targets. He saw three others running away, apparently hell-bent on escaping now that they realised their prey was not easy pickings. He glanced quickly at Natsu, who nodded, before letting his Dragon Force flood him with power. His actual, physical wings burst from his back along with the scales that instantly formed across his body, and he sent a burst of magic along the bone structure at the leading edge of them. Preparation completed, he launched himself forward at the retreating mages so fast he left an afterimage behind. As he passed them, his wings passed through them, the magic effectively forming a blade that severed their heads from their bodies. He skidded some forty metres before coming to a stop. His eyes glowed red for a moment as his Dragon Force faded, and then he fell to a knee, exhausted.

A little known fact about Dragon Slayer's is that while emotions do indeed give them far more ability to use their power, it also severely increases the strain on their mental faculties that comes with becoming closer to a Dragon.

After a minute of catching his breath, he stood again and began walking back towards his family. He hadn't even noticed that he'd covered some two hundred metres in a mere second and a half with his sprint.

His brother immediately pulled him into a rough embrace, slapping him on the back several times. Wendy, thinking that Serena needed cheering up, wormed her way into the embrace and stood up on the tips of her toes before jumping to plant a kiss on Serena's cheek. The man put an arm around her as well, bending down to kiss her forehead with a smile. Thankfully, the hand he rested on her head to gently smooth her hair was not the one still covered in the blood of a Dark mage.

Carla flew up and landed on Natsu's shoulder, and caught Serena's eye, both smiling at the understanding that he had now proven his words to her from earlier.

The little family stood thus for a good ten minutes before Wendy grew impatient and asked when they were going to eat something. Her little snuff of indignation when the men chuckled sent them off into gales of laughter, and before long Carla and Wendy joined in as well.

 **GRAY** Came to in a violently rocking wooden boat, his temple banging repeatedly into something that felt vaguely like Erza's armour. He opened his eyes.

Shit.

"I see you're awake now Gray."

He groaned, wishing that the pain building in his, oh, entire body, would, pretty please not do that? Unfortunately, his body wasn't listening right now.

"Everyone else is asleep. We should only be an hour or so from the mainland."

He would have started if he could move his neck.

"Oh! Is everyone... ok?"

Erza looked at him with a peculiar expression, one he had never seen before on her. It was melancholic and hopeful, fiery and burned out all at once. She let her chin drop slightly and her eyelids fell to half mast.

"Mostly. Your injuries were the most severe. Luckily, a combination of Cana and Lucy's magic has healed your more... immediate wounds. Your arm is broken. Right arm. We didn't realise before. You must have been running on pure magic and adrenaline."

He looked at her sharply, wishing he could move his arms up to grasp her shoulders.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"I'm leaving Fairy Tail."

The blunt reply sent a cold shiver down Gray's spine.

"What the fuck do you mean Erza?"

She didn't even take him up for his language. 'What the hell is wr- is that a TEAR?' Gray's thoughts were interrupted immediately as first one, then a growing cascade of salt water fell from Erza's normal eye.

Her mouth turned up in a smile, but it was such a sad smile that Gray almost wished she was frowning. She moved one of her hands down to rest on his forehead, gently rubbing his temple with her fingertips. She continued in a soft voice that he had no idea she was even capable of using, and it didn't sound right coming out of her mouth.

"It was my poor choices that led to this mission going wrong. I want a chance to take responsibility myself instead of letting Makarov make that choice for me. I... Imagine the look on Natsu's face when he returns... He'd be so disappointed in me. I can't and don't want to deal with that. Not that I deserve his affection in the first place. I'm nothing more than a burden to him."

Gray found that he really had nothing he could say that summed up just how full of crap that was, so he stuck with the basics.

"That's full of crap Erza. You're important to all of us, flame-brain included. Sure, you made a mistake, but so did the rest of us. We all are to blame. Please... don't leave us... don't leave me, big sis."

It was his use of the two words he hadn't used in nearly a decade that finally forced the sad smile from Erza's face. In it's place, horror seemed to creep in as she realised what it must be like for Gray, whose family had already been torn away from him twice, to see her trying to leave him too. And yet still, her shame couldn't be quenched and she refused to back down from quitting the guild, but perhaps...

"I promise you Gray Fullbuster... I will not leave you. I feel like I must leave Fairy Tail as my penance, but I will not abandon my family. If I may... I'd like to stay with you, as your..." she began to choke on her words as emotions rose strong and fast "sister... I should look out for you, right?"

Gray looked up at her in wide-eyed disbelief for a moment, then smiled gently and did his best to nod. She seemed to recognise the effort and cradled his head once more, crooning a quiet lullaby half to herself, but which certainly served to send him back to the realm of unconsciousness.

 **IT** Was a very subdued group that returned to Fairy Tail. Gray had recovered enough by the end of the five day walk that his arm, while slung up, was somewhat moveable. He was quiet though, much more quiet than Lucy had ever seen him in the short time she'd known him, and Cana agreed that he was suspiciously silent. He also seemed to cling rather obviously to Erza, and she to him, although neither of the others felt comfortable pointing it out to them. They simply assumed that they would eventually get some kind of clarification on the issue and move from there.

Makarov was seated atop the railing of the second floor as they pushed the door open. In a few short moments the guild went from rowdy and lively to absolutely dead silent as every eye eventually turned to take in the tragic sight of the four companions. They couldn't look sorrier for themselves as they stood, eyes downcast, in the middle of the floor. They didn't move, nor speak. The aged guild master leapt nimbly down and landed precisely in front of them.

"My office. Now." was all he said, before trotting off towards the stairs, with the melancholic wizards in tow.

Once they were all gathered in the office and the door was securely locked behind them, Makarov frowned heavily at Erza. He frowned in silence, hoping to make them uncomfortable enough to start speaking, and just before he'd given it up for a lost cause, Erza spoke.

"Makarov."

His frown deepened into a heavy scowl at the use of his first name.

"What is it?"

He said gruffly. If they had bad news and she was going to use his first name then she was going to have to deal with his attitude.

"I am offically resigning from the guild. It is my fault that the mission was a failure and I am accepting full responsibility."

He froze. His bones were creaking, he was sure of it. This simply couldn't be happening! Erza had never, never, failed a mission, and ... and...

She turned her head up from the floor with a far more determined set of her jaw, and continued in a fierce voice.

"You will not punish my friends or my brother for the failure of the mission. They all performed at a far higher standard than I did, and they do not deserve to be disadvantaged for it."

He felt a simultaneous surge of anger and pride. The strong urge to protect one's family, that much he could see he had managed to instill her, but how dare she take that tone with him and demand such things from him! It wasn't as if he was going to punish them anyway...

Not quite finding the right words to say, he instead began saying something far different.

"The first rule for wizards leaving Fairy Tail..."

As he continued stoicly through the standard farewell speech his resolve continued to waver as tears poured silently down her face, and he knew that this was hurting her as much as it was him. When he finished she practically launched herself at him, wrapping him a tear-sodden embrace that he couldn't bring himself to find uncomfortable. He watched in sullen bitterness as her guild mark faded from her shoulder. It wasn't long after it was fully gone that she tore herself away from him and sprinted from the room, tears still visible on her face.

He heard a loud banging as what he assumed were the outer doors swung harshly shut, and knew that she was gone. He turned to the other three mages and sighed.

"I suppose I really can't punish you three for this. I suppose... perhaps rather than a punishment, we'll call it a debt. I'll ask that you will make up the reward money of the Galuna job from other jobs to the guild. Once you've done that, you can keep all of the money you earn, until then you will leave 50% of each of your rewards with Mira. Is that fair?"

It was Gray who spoke. He wasn't surprised that he did, but at the same time, he was surprised at what he actually said.

"Of course Master, that's more than fair. I just have one request... Please keep Laxus in check. If he says anything about Erza right now, I might actually kill him."

Makarov narrowed his eyes but nodded.

"Very well, go on and clean yourselves, you sorry bastards. I expect you'll be making Fairy Tail proud again soon anyway, so start acting like you're proud of your guild."

They nodded in unison and trudged wearily out of the room. When the door shut behind Cana, Makarov sat down behind his desk and cried silently, his face in his hands. He hated, absolutely hated having to be so harsh on them like this... they'd lost faith in themselves after their failure, and Erza had her pride damaged so badly she'd quit. Quit! The woman had never quit anything in her life! Years of memories swam to the surface, all crying for his recognition as one. Erza 'teaching' Gray. Erza beating up Gray. Erza during her Trial. Erza leaving for her first S-Class mission. Erza slowly falling for Natsu as the boy outstripped even the most wild of his expectations for him. Erza trying to hide that she had been upset at Natsu's departure. Erza screaming and shouting at the people in the hall to just shut up and not fight already!

He sighed as his silent tears dried. In his heart, he knew that she would never truly leave them. She might not be a member of the guild, but she would not go far. She truly belonged in Magnolia, and she would probably stay with Gray, given the way they'd been acting. They were almost like siblings. Hell, they may as well have been!

He wiped his tired, sore eyes on his shirt, before strategically spilling his beer on it so as to hide the fact that he had shed tears. Not because he was ashamed, but rather because he needed to appear strong. If he believed they would all be fine, so would the guild.

Decisions had been made and executed. Things had changed. Now it was up to him - and them - to make the most of the new opportunity.

He stepped up to the balcony and sat on top of the railing. The quiet talking stopped immediately.

"Erza Scarlet has left Fairy Tail. Her reasons are her own and I'm not going to discuss them. However, this means that we have a need to fill the post of S-Class wizard quite urgently. Only Laxus and Mystogan are currently fulfilling requests, with both Gildarts and Natsu away on Century level quests. As such... I am hosting an emergency S-Class trial in one week. Everyone, train, and train hard. I will announce the competitors on the day of the trial. That's all, brats."

With that, he leapt down again and trotted to the bar, receiving a fresh mug from Mira. He could already feel the headache coming on.

 **IT** Was too damn early, Gildarts decided. He'd been having a lovely, wholesome dream when an impossibly loud roar had sounded. It had probably come from the mountain before him. He glared at it.

"Sacred Mount Zonia, I will reduce you to fucking rubble once I deal with whatever creature is hiding on you that woke me up!"

Obviously, he was not in the best of moods. He sighed, his frown dropping off his face to be replaced by a simple, slack expression. He mumbled unintelligibly under his breath as he set about packing his bedroll and other gear. It was only when he'd begun trudging in the direction of the mountain that he heard the roar again. He froze, listening carefully. A wyvern, he decided. A big one. He would almost have said it could be a Dragon, but they didn't exist any more. Right? That's what Natsu had told him. That Dragons were most likely extinct.

A grin slid slowly onto his face. At least wyverns were fun to fight.

His slow trek through the forest and up the lower slopes of the mountain should have warned him. There were no animals or birds making any kind of sound, anywhere. Even wyverns couldn't manage to scare off an entire ecosystem!

The second warning should have been when his breathing became laboured before he'd even ascended a thousand feet. As it was, he didn't notice the rapidly climbing magical pressure in the air.

Funnily enough though, when a shadow the size of fucking Magnolia rose over him, he did notice. Looking up sharply and dropping his excess gear, he immediately released all of his magic, his normally intense restraint loosening and the raw power he held snapping free. The Dragon, for nothing else could be that size, was incredibly impressive. It's blue-on-black colour scheme was frighteningly vivid and a single claw alone was the size of Gildarts himself. It regarded him for a moment, before lazily flicking it's forearm towards him. Gildarts attempted to jump over the arm, but completely underestimated it's speed. How the hell did something that big move so damned fast?!

As he was sent flying back down the mountain, he prepared two attacks. One, he would use to Crash the ground behind him to soften his landing, while the second one would launch a beam of Crash magic at his foe. It wasn't his strongest technique, but it would hopefully do... something.

The ground came rushing at him and when he judged himself to have just a second before he hit, he released the first attack. As planned, his right fist shattered the ground, leaving plenty of space for it to give under his weight and momentum. The impact, however, still shook his knees and spine something awful. He spent a quick moment getting his balance before he unleashed the beam of magic from his left palm. To put it simply, all he had to do to achieve this was to focus the shattering effect of the Crash magic to a single point, and then continuosly send his magic power down the line of that point.

It struck the Dragon in the side of the head, although the creature didn't even move an inch. Seeing his attack have little effect, he swung up his right fist, sending a second beam alongside the first. The Dragon's only acknowledgement was a grunt before it launched itself out from under the beam and dove down the side of the mountain at him.

Eyes widening in terror, true, deep-seated, pants-shitting terror, Gildarts abandoned his obviously ineffectual beam attack and pulled as much power as he dared release at once into his right fist again.

"CRUSHING EVIL"

He raised his fist to shoulder height.

"SPREADING THE TRUTH"

He pulled his arm back into a V and turned his body into the punch.

"ABSOLUTE SHATTERPOINT!"

His arm sprang forward to meet the Dragon, timed to release the attack just moments before it actually hit him. The amount of magic going through him numbed him to all feeling, and the light blinded him. This was an attack he had never used at full power before, as it was designed to pierce up to a kilometre of solid rock at once. It had originally been developed for mining, but he'd adapted it to his Crash magic for the far more sinister purpose of tearing his opponents into little bloody shreds.

If his attack had been directed at almost any other opponent, they would have been completely disintegrated faster than you could blink. Along with several hundred metres of rock. Unfortunately, Acnologia, the Black Dragon from the Book of Apocalypse, and the King of Dragons, was not just any opponent.

As the light faded, Gildarts was breathing incredibly heavily. That hit needed to have at the very least stunned it. However, he soon found himself looking up at the beast, who was watching him with complete indifference. It didn't seem to have even been fazed, let alone scratched by his most powerful attack. And now... he couldn't even find the strength to move. It lowered it's gigantic head down to him. He collapsed to his knees in front of it as it regarded him with curiosity, as if mocking his efforts. 'Is that all you can do?' It seemed to say.

"You bastard..."

Gildarts managed to growl out a few more choice words.

Then the King of Dragons opened his maw and engulfed the Crash mage whole.

 **ACNOLOGIA** Was having a troublesome day. First of all, he'd felt an explosion of Dragon magic in the south, though far closer than the last time. He'd given off a loud, indignant roar at that. Then, some pest of a human had come up to his mountain - his mountain! - and tried to attack him when he'd shoo'd it away. It had been easy enough to shrug off even the ugly little creatures most powerful attack, as evidenced by how exhausted it had been. But the worst part was that the human had smelt of Dragon Slayer. Oh, he hadn't been one himself, but he'd been in contact with one not that long ago. A couple of years, maybe.

Was it possible that this one had been some kind of scout for the Slayer's he knew were approaching? If so, it technically boded well for him. Their scout was now dead, and hadn't even been able to make him feel it's attacks.

Of course, it could be unrelated, but Acnologia did not like leaving things to chance. Perhaps he should leave them a little message... He'd originally intended to wait for them to come to him, but if they were going to insult him with this puny human's attempt at fighting him, then he was going to pay them back in kind. Maybe that human city... what had it been called again? Bah, he didn't care. Whatever it's name, it wouldn't matter when he, Acnologia, finally began to wrought the Apocalypse he'd been waiting so long to start.

 **AND THAT'S ALL FOLKS!**

This chapter has some interesting stuff. I've tried to do some stuff a little different with regards to worldbuilding in this and the last chapter. I also wanted to set a kind of standard of fulfilling my scriptual promises. If anyone can guess what the promises I fulfilled in this chapter are, congratulations! You get a smile.

As for Gildarts' death, I realise that it's probably not a very popular decision. Unlike one of my previous fics, mentioning no names of course, I couldn't very well have no one die without it being too similar to canon, but I also couldn't just kill people off willy-nilly. Hence Erza's less permanent loss, and Gildarts' death. Basically, I just want to keep the fact that there are weighty and severe consequences for choices that people make in this story at the forefront.

However, narrative fluidity aside, I needed Gildarts to die to accomodate a certain decision that will be aluded to in future chapters. Essentially, with Natsu and Serena teamed up for the foreseeable future, I couldn't very well have a third Mary-Sue level powerhouse assosciated with Fairy Tail. Erza's decision to leave the guild obviously won't stop her from protecting the people she cares about, so it's not like she is gone, per se. Gildarts, however, had the potential to be a major, major player in the completion of Natsu and Serena's Century quest, and in order to not give them early warning of Acnologia's exact location, Gildarts needed to be at least indisposed. However, as I'd already planned for the only city nearby being the one which Acnologia would destroy, I thought it would be less of a bullshit move to have Acnologia kill Gildarts immediately rather than bandy about false hope when I planned to have him die while recovering in that city anyway. Figured I wouldn't jerk you around with that one.

This is sort of a much longer rationale than I usually put at the end of these things, but I just didn't feel quite right about not explaining exactly why Gildarts had to die, and when. If you have any further questions or complaints about the chapter, please leave a review or PM me!

BYE!


	6. Re-introductions and Revelations

I still do not own Fairy Tail. To a certain reviewer of mine, Grubk1ng: I think I may have answered your question in this chapter. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

 **THE NORTHERN WASTELANDS**

 **HE** Shuffled his wings impatiently as he soared across the barren plain below him. He didn't the flight taking this long last time he'd headed south. Though, he had been a full century younger then. Ahead the golden-brown sand faded into a sea of pale green as he approached the lazy river, that he remembered as a great roaring cascade. Hmph. It seemed the only thing that didn't change with the ages was himself. And that bastard Zeref, but that was to be expected.

Finally, the city was coming into view. On the horizon, with the sun directly overhead, it looked like a glint of metal. He began to climb, higher and higher, foregoing the thermals of the desert scrub plain for the clearer air above. He looked down when he was satisfied with his height and kept careful watch on the slowly growing city. He wanted to glide down without having to put in any effort. When the city was close enough that he could see the individual houses, from some nine miles away no less, he began his descent. At six miles, he could see people on the streets. At three, sounds began to drift his way, garbled and incomplete. At two miles, he knew he had been spotted and watched, amused, as the glint of sun on spears began to line the city walls.

He landed in a wave of dust and sand that blinded the city's pitiful guard for a minute. Patiently, he waited for the cloud to disperse. A pointless gesture, perhaps, but he enjoyed their fear. A guard yelled out some command or other, spears and blasts of elemental magic flew at him in equal measure. So they had some magicians, too. Huh.

The spears glanced off of his hide as did the magic, and he snorted. They'd had more than a fair chance, as far as he was concerned. He opened his maw wide, and gathered up an incredible amount of magic. It condensed into a ball so bright, that the guards lost sight of him within it's radiance. Finally, he bellowed out his Roar, sending a beam a quarter mile wide straight through the city, the dazzling light brighter than the sun. It was shows of power like this that had earned him the reputation as the Dragon of Apocalypse. So strong was the magic in his attack that even the areas of the city not in the direct path of the beam began to melt, shatter or distort from the energy leaking out. As his jaw snapped suddenly shut, the light faded and the extent of the damage was finally revealed.

The few survivors, numbered barely in the dozens, were evacuating the shattered city with extreme prejudice. He let them go. Who would tell of his attack if he killed them all?

If Dragons can be said to grin, he certainly did, an evil expression full of pride and power. He relished in his power, and his destruction.

'Your move, Slayers...'

 **THE WILDLANDS OF BOSCO**

 **NATSU** Grimaced. After the first attack several days ago, they'd been harrowed by no less than six groups of Dark mages. In all honesty, it was only frustrating because it cut into the training time they had with Wendy. Serena had been the one doing most of the work, but he was still weighing in here and there. The poor girl was exhausted, but apparently their own stubborn determination had rubbed off on her, as she never gave up trying to improve, even when they could practically hear her aches and pains.

Currently Wendy was attempting to reach her Dragon Force. The concentration she was showing could easily be mistaken for pain, and in reality it was painful. Reaching Dragon Force wasn't that much of a feat in and of itself, but reaching Dragon Force of your own sheer will and then keeping it stable? That was another matter entirely.

"Come on Wendy, reach for it, pull in all of the magic around you! You're doing so well!" Wendy threw her head back, a banshee-like shriek tearing the air as finally the magical pressure flowing towards Wendy stabilised and began to flow back out from her. Her skin burst into radiance, patches of purple scales showing across her whole body. White, feathery wings sprouted from her back, and her hair grew wilder, whipped around by the sheer pressure she was now exerting.

Serena's final encouragement turned into joyous laughter as her Dragon Force settled, and he ran to her, picking her up into a tight embrace. He began to spin on the spot, both of them laughing, as they reveled in her success.

"You got it, you got it, you got it!" Serena stopped spinning and turned to confront Natsu, who sported an equally (ridiculously) large grin. Wendy leapt lightly from Serena's arms to Natsu's, just as they opened to receive her. He held the girl tightly to his chest, and whispered in her ear "I'm so proud of you, Wendy!"

Putting her down gently, he rested a hand on her head, while she beamed up at him.

"You know, Wendy, neither of us got it within a week of trying. You could well be stronger than us in a few short years!"

The girl was practically glowing with happiness - as well as with Dragon Force. Natsu tousled her hair gently, before speaking in a soft tone. "That doesn't mean you can slack off though, Wendy. You're ready to start practicing some more advanced moves. Would you like to try now?"

Wendy almost fainted from excitement. Her companions had told her all about how to strengthen her attacks but she'd not been allowed to try until her body was reinforced by her Dragon Force. She nodded her head as fast as she could, her fists clutched to her chest and a beaming smile splitting her face.

Serena laughed from behind her. "Alright Wendy. Let's see your best punch."

Wendy's grin turned savage in the way that only a Dragon Slayer's can, and she twisted her body, lunging forward towards Serena. Her admittedly small fist landed directly in the hand the older Slayer had raised, and she felt incredible satisfaction go through her as Serena's eyes widened in surprise when he was pushed backwards. The exhilaration he showed after she landed and removed her fist told her that she had done well.

"Alright! This time, Wendy, try from a standing start instead of jumping."

She did so, and was only a little disappointed when Serena didn't move. She hadn't felt the same weight behind her punch, so she understood, but it still felt underwhelming. She must have let her feelings show because Serena smiled softly at her.

"It's OK Wendy, that's where these extra moves come in. You've seen Natsu use his Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow attack right? Well, think of doing the same. Use your magic to force your arm forward faster. Also, try to focus the air in _front_ of your first into a hard sharp point. That way you'll hit harder and faster all in the same attack!"

Wendy marveled (haha) at the explanation. Of course! Why hadn't she thought of that? The younger Slayer held her fist up, cocked and ready, and concentrated. It took a few tries for her to be able to actually hold the 'arrowhead', as she dubbed it, while she punched. A few more and she was boosting her punches speed as well.

Not really wanting to let her hit them with the spell, and feeling retaliating might be a little harsh, the two older Slayer's instructed Wendy to hit some trees and rocks, and see what happened.

The trees Wendy punched splintered instantly. Rocks, however, proved to be a bit more of a challenge. After leaving nothing but a small dent in one of the boulders Natsu pointed out, even after a dozen hits, Wendy got frustrated. She screamed and drew back her fist for one more punch. Unbeknownst to her, her magic responded to her emotions and overpowered her spell. When her 'arrowhead' made contact with the rock this time, a perfect hole was drilled right through it before it cracked neatly in two.

Wendy was stunned. Had she really done that? She'd seen her father and his brother do much more impressive things, but they were really old and strong! She'd broken the rock all by herself! Pride swelled in her, and only grew when her father collected her into his arms again, whispering in her ear about how well she'd done. She could also hear Serena whooping with joy. She laughed, a few tears of happiness sneaking out of her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her father's neck.

Carla had watched Wendy practicing from a distance. She hadn't wanted the child to feel any pressure and nor did she have any desire to be near the Dragon Slayer's when they were using magic. She was utterly shocked by the way Wendy had gained control of her Dragon Force. In a quiet moment without the men around, the first day they'd been teaching her that skill, Wendy had confided in Carla that it was almost painful trying to make it work and that she didn't think she could ever do it. To watch her gain control of it and then learn an advanced technique strong enough to shatter a rock ten times bigger than she was! She knew that she'd made the right decision in letting Wendy come with the men.

She flew down from her perch atop a tall tree and was surprised when Wendy floated up to greet her. The Exceed and Slayer embraced each other. No words needed to be exchanged for Wendy to know how Carla felt.

"I did it Carla! I really did!"

And as she felt Wendy's joyful tears slowly soaking her fur, Carla couldn't have been more proud or happy.

 **ERA**

 **ERZA** Scarlet was not a woman who was easily cowed. She was not a woman who stayed down, and she was not a woman who was used to having nothing that she could do. At the moment, she felt totally and utterly empty. She didn't allow herself any more self-pity though. She'd punished herself by removing herself from Fairy Tail. It had hurt, and her heart still ached whenever she glanced at the shoulder where her mark used to be. But the pain had faded into nothingness.

What was she supposed to do now? Her life had been turned upside down for the third time and she didn't know what to do. Even though she had promised (reluctantly) Gray she would stay close by him in Magnolia, she found herself adrift as if at sea. She didn't truly know where she was now, just that the road under her feet was guiding her somewhere. She was wearing the plainest white and blue clothing she owned. She felt it relaxed her a little. The sun overhead was hot on her exposed arms and legs, but she barely cared.

After what was probably a day or two on the road, she was roused from her trance. She'd really come to appreciate the travel and had begun to understand why Natsu and Gildarts loved it so much. As such, she didn't like being grabbed gently by the shoulder and spoken to. No matter how politely.

"Erza? Ms Scarlet? What on Earthland are you doing out here?"

The voice wasn't one she recognised immediately so she lashed out, knocking the hand on her shoulder away and spitting angrily at her interrupter. "Get out of my way!"

"You really shouldn't speak to a Council member like that, my dear."

Erza was jerked harshly out of her thoughts at _that_ statement. Council member? Well... shit. She raised her head slowly. Standing before her, smiling gently, was a purple haired _mena_ -... ah, woman, who was all to familiar to Erza. She'd met the woman on two occasions and knew only three things about her - she worked for the council, she was a very powerful mage, and she loved her Natsu. Natsu. She loved Natsu. _Ahem._

"Oh... hello. It's you, Ultear."

The woman was far too happy for her liking.

"Yes! And it's you, Erza! It's really quite lovely to see you again. You should have come to visit me!"

The sad part was, the Knight knew Ultear was being genuine. She was one of the nicest people she knew. But she stood in the way of getting to her Natsu, so on principal alone she couldn't stand her.

She'd actually been somewhat enamoured with Ultear when they'd first met. The woman had been out of Fairy Tail for just over two years and had been visiting the Master when Erza had joined, and the younger mage had found the woman irresistibly beautiful. Of course, the next year, while Erza had been away, the _bi..._ um... person, had met Natsu, a then new recruit, and from that point on she'd hated her existence. Natsu hadn't stopped talking for a month about how pretty Ultear was. Why didn't he tell her that she was pretty?! It wasn't fair at all.

"I suppose it has been a while, Ultear. I'm not sure where I'm going, though I suppose if you're headed opposite to me, I'm moving in the direction of the Council?"

Ultear paused with a frown. Something was wrong. Last time she'd seen Erza the Re-Quip mage had been rude, but this Erza sounded... defeated. She glanced at her exposed arm and her eyes widened slightly when she didn't see a guild mark there. She didn't want to pry, though.

"Say, I'm not doing anything important, dear. Would you like to come with me to the Council? I've got some new toys just in from the weapons lab to test, I just wanted to take a little holiday before I did."

Erza threw the woman she hated a grateful look. She'd noticed Ultear's inspection and there was no way she had missed the guild mark, or rather, lack thereof. She praised the woman's compassionate nature. Silently, of course. She had an image to maintain. Not trusting herself not to spit vitriol at the woman if she answered verbally, she nodded her head. She was rewarded with a beaming grin that reminded her all to painfully of Natsu.

Surprisingly, as it turned out, Ultear had literally only left the Council building an hour ago, which meant they arrived at the intimidating building quite soon. Ultear, to Erza's eternal gratitude, didn't fill the time with meaningless chatter, but instead told her a bunch of interesting facts and bits of trivia that were probably quite illegal for her to know. Ultear never really had been that tight-lipped with members of her former guild.

It was not long after they arrived that Ultear shoved a funny-looking metallic pole into Erza's hands.

"This baby is a rod infused with six different elemental lacrima. You'll be able to fire off what are essentially mini-Jupiter cannon rounds or use individual elements. This version has Ice, Water, Fire, Lightning, Earth and Wind. There's a prototype version coming in next month that will have eight lacrima."

Erza's eyes widened drastically. The practical applications for such a weapon were immense. A thought struck though. It seemed odd that this type of weapon wasn't in high circulation already.

"May I ask why this not already being used? I can certainly see the benefits of it."

"Ah." Ultear shook her head with a sad smile. "Our Rune Knights were having serious problems with it. Most couldn't produce enough magic power to get the thing to work, and amplifiers wouldn't work with the metal housing. We know, we tried that. None of the Wizard Saints would ever need a weapon like this and seeing as we aren't allowed to distribute prototype weaponry to anyone not under the direct employ of the Council..."

"You couldn't get a test subject."

"Right. That's where you come in."

Erza looked confused for a moment. She knew Ultear had on many occasions passed illegal or highly sensitive information onto the Fairy Tail Master either herself or through an informant, but this was far more serious. For Erza, anyway. She didn't care if Ultear got arrested, but this would implicate her!

"But I don't work for the Council."

"Oh, didn't I tell you? Welcome to your new job, Rune Knight Captain Scarlet."

"WHAT?!"

 **THE WILDLANDS OF BOSCO**

 **IT** Was evening, and the heat of the day had finally begun to leave. It was in that perfect time where the last touches of pink across the horizon are fading and the cool of night sets in from above while the warmth of the day still radiates from the ground below. The quartet of travelers were looking to travel well through the night, making as much ground as they could before moonrise. In this part of the world, Wendy had discovered, the moon didn't rise until later than midnight. She didn't really understand why, and when she asked her father, he merely replied that that was the way things were here.

Wendy had not yet 'switched off' her Dragon Force. At Natsu's prompting, she was to stay in the form for as long as possible. "It will bolster your magical reserves and make it easier to re-enter the longer you are capable of holding it." It was going on ten hours since she had entered her Dragon Force, and the strain was beginning to make itself known. All of a sudden, her fatigue simply overtook her and she exited her Dragon Force, collapsing to her knees and coughing lightly. She was just out of breath, but she was so incredibly _tired_!

"Alright Wendy, let's call it a night here, OK?" Natsu crouched down in front of his daughter, a hand resting gently on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We're incredibly proud you've made it so long. It isn't easy holding together a form like that."

Wendy nodded, still too short of breath to answer verbally.

"Besides..." Natsu continued "... Serena and I need to talk about something." Wendy took this as a dismissal of sorts and scooted backwards a little, lying herself down without even bothering to remove her pack. Natsu gave her a gentle smile, one she didn't see with her eyes closed as they were, and stood. Serena had been subtly making gestures at him for the past hour and a bit. He turned to Carla for a moment.

"Can you watch her for a while, Carla? We'll be nearby, and we can smell you but... I'll still worry."

Carla nodded. "Of course. You didn't need to ask me to do it, you know. I care for Wendy more than you lot!"

Natsu chuckled and retreated after the slowly fading figure of Serena. The man stopping moving, waiting for Natsu to catch him, about six hundred metres from the place they'd left the girls.

The pair stood, one with his back to the other, for a good few minutes before Natsu broke the silence.

"This is about Mary. And what you said back then."

Serena stiffened almost imperceptibly, then nodded.

"Yes. And no. It's also about what you said to Wendy."

"I meant it."

"I know."

It was when the older Slayer turned around with tears in his eyes that Natsu realised just how much this meant to him. He opened his arms as Serena lunged for him, and the two embraced firmly, Serena leaving a damp patch on Natsu's shirt. One of Natsu's hands found it's way into Serena's hair, while the other rubbed his back.

"You idiot... why didn't you talk to me? I thought you were joking all this time..."

Serena looked up, his eyes overflowing with emotion and salt water. "Would it have made a difference?" He trembled in Natsu's arms.

He sighed. "In a way, it both would and wouldn't have. I would never have given up our friendship. We're brothers Serena, in every meaningful way. I just... I can't... I was too scared to think about what would happen if I said something about wanting to _try_ and you ended up being just... you know..."

"A stupid insensitive prick with poorly thought out jokes?" Serena managed a watery smile, one that Natsu returned. His own eyes were getting dangerously close to spilling over.

"Yes, that."

The pair stood in comfortable silence for a few more minutes.

"Natsu?"

"Hm?"

"Would you like to try?"

Silence echoed from them, seeming to quiet everything nearby. The desert owl hooting not far off seemed further away, and the wind lessened.

Natsu didn't answer with his words. Instead, he lowered his lips to Serena's for just a brief moment. Hovering over them after the kiss ended, he whispered. "Yes."

 **MORNING** Came as morning's do, and with the morning came a rather interesting sight for the Sky Dragon Slayer. She giggled, and quietly shook Carla awake.

"Look!" She whispered, pointing. Carla quickly joined her in giggling at their companions.

They were quite sure that they had never seen a cuter sight than the two Dragon Slayer's, who could be so tough and fearsome, curled up in each other's arms with their foreheads resting together and stupid smiles on their faces.

 **AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS THE NEW CHAPTER!** It's a bit shorter, I know, but this chapter needed to introduce some new elements rather than develop existing ones for the most part. We got some set up for Acnologia's ongoing involvement in the plot, a glimpse at Wendy's training, Ultear's reappearance and Erza's new job, and the beginnings of a relationship between Natsu and Serena! All in all, a very productive chapter for it's length. I'm quite pleased with it. I don't usually ask for reviews but please! Let me know what you thought! Also, do you like the new segments? I hope it makes it a bit easier. I will at some point edit the older chapters to match, but that might not happen for a while.

Love you all!


	7. Erza's New Job And A New Page

**I still do not own Fairy Tail.** **Before we get into the chapter, I want to address something. Firstly, to that one reviewer who wanted me to warn them about any incoming yaoi, you may as well leave now. I don't view a homosexual couple any differently than I do a heterosexual couple, so I'm not going to draw any special attention to it other than this acknowledgement. And for your information, I updated the story's listing to show that Natsu and Serena are together five minutes before the chapter went live, so there!** **Secondly, I want to say that I personally don't care at all about what gender two people in a relationship are. That may be blase, but I don't really care. As such, while I can understand that some people are not comfortable with the pairing I have chosen, I don't feel that at all. If you no longer wish to continue reading this story because of the pairing, I promise you I harbour you no ill will for making that choice. It is yours, and you are entitled to it. I never expect anything from my stories, as crappy as they are, and so to know that people were reading it in the first place is gratifying enough for me. If male same sex relationships don't do it for you, then I wish you well, and no hard feelings. That's all 3** **Finally, I'd like to address the review from PyruxDeltax. Thanks for querying, but it's quite a lot simpler than you seem to have misunderstood. In canon, it is never technically revealed whether or not Gildarts informed the Magic Council of his encounter with Acnologia. However, the Magic Council is at least somewhat familiar with the King of Dragons already, as Mest (then deep undercover as Doranbolt) expressed shock and horror at the mention of the creatures name when Zeref muttered it under his breath on Tenrou Island. We also don't actually learn what Gildarts' Century quest even was! In this story, Natsu and Serena have been passed a mandate directly by the Council to take Acnologia out, and it has been guised as a Century quest. I would also remind you that this series is completely AU and has already greatly reshaped canon.**

 **ERA**

 **RUNE** Knight Captain Erza Scarlet had quickly become feared among the Magic Council's employees. Even the actual Council members were frequently scolded and 'invited' quite firmly to train, lest they suffer the displeasure of their greatest non-Wizard Saint fighter. Not that the idea to promote Erza to that position hadn't been entertained.

In just one week, Erza Scarlet had taken her regulation battalion of 100 Rune Knights from what the two highest ranked Wizard Saints frequently called "pathetic wastes of money and time" to some of the most feared people in the kingdom. Nevermind that they all feared their commander far more than they could ever be feared themselves. After being worked for literally all but two hours out of every day on their magic and strength, they had begun to flourish. Most still passed out an hour or two before Erza sent them to rest but the fact that a quarter of them could keep up with her own workout scheme was incredible. Erza herself hadn't been slacking off either, she worked alongside her men and it showed in the way they respected her. They saw her not as some snobby, rich, overpaid bastard who thought they were above people like the Rune Knights, they saw her as something akin to an older sister. They were all close to her and as much as she would push them (and punish anyone who failed to fulfill their orders), she would also sit with them, laugh with them, listen to their stories and fears and respond with her own. They especially grew to love the stories she had about her attempts to keep Gray from fighting with people in the Fairy Tail guild hall.

In one month, Erza took her battalion on their first sanctioned operation. Rumours to the north were spreading about the Oracion Seis, a dark guild of the Balam Alliance, that had been poking around in ancient temples and the like. It took less than five hours for the hundred Knights and their commander to take all of the Seis down and imprison them. The Council was so pleased with their performance that they were granted jurisdiction to train other battalions of Rune Knights once a fortnight, and given a very welcome pay rise. Erza refused the increased pay and demanded it be instead used on other Rune Knights who had also been working hard but not receiving the recognition they were. In the end her bonus went to Lahar, perhaps the most studious Rune Knight of the bunch, and the Council's go-to paperwork workhorse.

Erza was currently sitting in the mess hall, next to Adrian and Gus, two of the Lieutenants in her battalion. Adrian was roaring with laughter as Gus told them the story of how he'd caught his daughter in the barn with the blacksmith's boy.

"And I look at him, and I say to him in the best impression of the Captain I've done, "You do anything to my daughter again and I'll have you flogged through the streets, strung up for a week then drawn and quartered and sold to the tavern to put into the soup!" The little scoundrel about shat himself and ran sobbing from the room. I know I should feel a little bad for him but that was my daughter he had his hands on!"

Erza snorted and clapped Gus on the back. Somehow she didn't doubt that an impression of her 'angry' voice was effective in scaring the boy away.

"How is little Becca anyway, Gus? Haven't seen her since we got back from the north."

It was Adrian's turn to snort. He might be best friends with Gus but that didn't mean he was going to let him get away without some teasing. To that end, he jumped into the conversation before Gus had a chance to reply.

"If she's got time to be messing around in the barn, I'd say she's either perfectly fine or Gus's going soft on us."

He dodged the swift kick aimed at his shins and laughed at the glowering face his friend was making.

"For your information, she's much too young for that sort of thing, Adrian, or do I need to remind you of what y- mmf aa!" Gus was suddenly cut off when Adrian latched a hand over his mouth.

Erza chuckled at her two friends. This was nice. It was like being back with her family in Fairy Tail. The only thing missing was a certain Ice mage with a stripping habit.

"Good morning, Erza!" came a cheerful call from behind her. 'Wrong Ice mage' she thought wryly. Turning to face the Council member she both loved and hated the most, she prepared for either something entirely pointless or entirely too serious for this time of the morning.

"Good morning, Councilwoman Ultear!" The woman in question frowned slightly at the formal greeting but made no mention of it. There were bigger fish to fry. The greeting was echoed by the Lieutenants and then the rest of the rather noisy mess hall, before they turned back to their breakfast and left the two women to talk. Whatever the higher-ups wanted, it wasn't their business anyway.

"Erza, would you mind coming with me for a few moments? There's a visitor for you, and a message." Ultear smiled brightly down at her and offered a hand to pull the Captain to her feet. Erza, somewhat reluctantly, accepted the gesture and followed her from the room.

They walked together through the halls of the training complex, then across the parade grounds, then through the main Council building corridors, and then out into the front courtyard, where two people were waiting. Before she left Erza to speak with them, Ultear told her that she would be waiting inside with the message.

Erza walked with deliberation towards the two for a moment, before giving up all pretense of maintaining a soldiers dignity and flying into the waiting arms of her brother in all but blood. Gray's gentle arms around her were warm and she felt like she was truly home now. When she finally released him, she turned to the other person, and dropped to her knees to embrace her former Master.

"It's lovely to see you Master! Why did you come out here?"

Makarov chuckled as Erza stood back up. "Can't an old man visit his children? Gray was coming to see you and I already had business with the Council that would have needed to be sorted sooner or later, so I tagged along. How have you been my dear?"

Erza practically glowed with happiness and pride as she started speaking.

"I've been wonderful, Mas- Makarov. I was made a Rune Knight Captain by Ultear, as you probably know, and I've been training with them almost non-stop! We're the strongest fighters after the Wizard Saints in the Council now. We got back a week and a half ago from Operation Blackpoint, and successfully captured the Oracion Seis with no fatalities. I couldn't be prouder of my men! They worked and fought so hard, I don't think even Fairy Tail could have done a better job! Well, minus Natsu or Gildarts."

Makarov watched her talk and then turn to answer Gray's questions excitedly. This... this was what he had wanted from her all along. He had hoped that Fairy Tail could have been her home in the way that he clearly saw the Council had become. He had wanted her to forget the tragic events of the past, but it seemed that perhaps he'd overlooked something. Looking at her now though, his heart swelled. She was so relaxed and so proud and so obviously enjoying her life, seemingly not weighed down by the troubles she'd been burdened with before. How Ultear had managed to work this miracle was beyond him, but he was ever so grateful she had. In a suitable pause in the conversation, one in which he noticed Erza and Gray were now holding hands, he interjected.

"I couldn't be prouder of you Erza. You've done what most people find impossible, and many quite difficult. You've faced down your problems and decided to keep going and become a better person for the trials you've faced. You have built yourself a new life and you have done so quite magnificently. Erza Scarlet, I'm proud to know you and love you as I do."

Erza blushed as brilliantly red as her hair at Makarov's words. She knew he was eloquent when he wanted to be but she'd never expected to hear something so personal and heartfelt from him. She felt Gray's hand squeeze hers, and she turned her head to see him smiling and nodding.

"He's right, you know. I thought I might have lost you when you disappeared from Magnolia. You were supposed to stay with me, remember? But then I hear about the Red Captain and her exploits with the strongest Rune Knights in the kingdom and realised that I hadn't lost anything. You were just letting yourself be you and do what you love to do for the first time. I've never seen you smile so much as in the last hour, Erza. It's really nice to see you smile again."

If she could have turned any redder, she probably would have. Gray really thought he'd lost her? Never! She silently proclaimed. Leaning in towards him, she rested her head gently on his shoulder and mumbled a quiet "Thank you".

He smirked and out of her sight, winked at Makarov, who returned a sly wink of his own. They'd come expecting to have to cheer her up but it appeared as if that was not necessary in the slightest.

The trio talked for a while longer before Gray reminded Makarov that he had a meeting to attend to. The old man exclaimed "Oh crap!" and ran off into the Council building, muttering about the Wizard Saints and respect.

Erza smiled as she watched him leave, then turned to Gray again. "What will you do now, Gray? I have to see Ultear, she said something about a message."

He smiled, and finally released her hand. "Go on, I'll be waiting outside. I've been trying this meditation stuff to increase my magic power, and it's working pretty well. I can visualise my Ice-Make magic much more strongly too, I don't even need to call out the spells most of the time any more! Next time something happens..." His face suddenly became clouded with fury. Erza startled at the sheer hatred pouring off of him. "No one will stop me from protecting my family. I'll protect them all..."

She embraced him once again in a crushing hug, and although she couldn't see it, his face softened. "Of course you will, Gray, and I'll be right behind you."

With that, and a tear still in her eye, she ran back towards the Council building, waving over her shoulder.

Inside sat Ultear, on a chair Erza was sure hadn't been there before. Rather than question it however, she simply got straight to business. Standing at attention before the Councilwoman, Erza put on her best respectful voice and asked "May I receive the message now, Councilwoman Ultear?"

The woman in question giggled with one hand delicately over her mouth. "You know, Erza, we're friends, you don't need to act so stiff and formal around me. Anyway, the message is from an old friend of yours. He came by the Council last week, but I've been tied up. He says "Remember the boats". Do you know what he meant by that?"

Ultear wore her best confused face, while inwardly watching Erza's reaction attentively. First the Knight stiffened, then slowly the blood drained from her face. Finally, her eyes widened almost comically and the Red Captain toppled to the floor, motionless. A brief glance and a flare of her magic told her no-one was watching, so Ultear indulged in a little decadence.

"Let the games begin! Soon, Zeref... soon you'll be awakened."

 **THE NORTHERN WASTELANDS**

 **NATSU** Had not slept well the past two nights. He and Serena had both felt the powerful Dragon magic from the north and both of them had known what it meant. Acnologia knew they were coming, and he was not happy. Serena had taken on the attitude of "I can't see him yet, so I'm not worried about it" but Natsu was more than worried. He was terrified.

It wasn't necessarily for himself or for Serena, but for Wendy and Carla that he feared. He wasn't sure that anything he could do would actually protect them from the beast... even if they won. He couldn't honestly fool himself into thinking that they could beat Acnologia without using underhanded means... and he'd never actually gone all out with his Demon abilities before. As much as Dragon magic effected the user's personality, it had nothing on a Demon's Curse. Using only half of his curse's potential caused a week of mood swings and unnecessary aggression. Thankfully, he was pretty good at controlling those impulses now. On the other hand, the one time he'd used 80% of his potential it had destroyed an entire archipelago when he tripped... but he didn't really talk about that.

The point of his worry was that he was still not strong enough. All of his vast power meant less than nothing to him if it wasn't enough to protect the people he cared about. Grumbling to himself, he finally decided that he wouldn't be sleeping tonight either and woke Serena with a pinch.

"What is it, are there more mages?"

Serena was alert very quickly, looking around, before his eyes settled on Natsu's troubled face. It wasn't his 'business' face, so there weren't enemies nearby, and his nose quickly confirmed that nothing smelled out of place. Then it clicked a moment later.

"Can't sleep? Worried?"

A silent nod was his answer.

"Hm. You need to train?"

Another nod.

The First Wizard Saint sighed heavily. He rose to his feet without another word and gently roused Wendy and Carla. The females were slower to wake than he had been and looked around groggily.

"What's the matter? Why did you wake me up?"

Natsu slowly rose to stand next to Serena. "I'm sorry Wendy, but Serena and I need to do some real training, and you wouldn't have been able to sleep through it anyway."

Wendy looked at her father, confused and worried at his tired and yet determined voice. "I thought you said that we shouldn't train to much out here? Because it would attract people, or something..."

She started to second-guess herself even as she spoke, but Natsu smiled.

"You're absolutely right, Wendy, but this time it's more important that we train properly than that we go unnoticed. At this point, we're maybe a week's travel from our destination anyway. Hiding is pretty pointless now. Now, please stand back, you don't want to be anywhere near this, trust me."

She began to step back, then actually turned and ran as she felt the enormous pressure rise off of the two men. The magic was suffocating, and there was something... else. She slipped unconsciously into her Dragon Force in her hurry to move to a safe distance, and found herself flying, fast.

Natsu, meanwhile, was bringing forth every drop of curse he could access slowly but surely. Serena was also accumulating his power, ready to try to contain whatever Natsu was going to do.

The power rose up higher and higher in the Fire Dragon Slayer's body, burning like nothing else ever could. He held it in control tightly for now, Serena needed to reach his Thereotical state before he could hope to contend with that form.

"With the elements of four Dragon's blessings on my left, and the elements of four Dragon's blessings on my right, I reach out and crush them together. I, who command magic like no other! I am not a Dragon Slayer... I am Thereotical. I am The Hybrid Theory!" With a final scream, Serena smashed eight orbs of highly dense magic together, creating what was essentially as close to pure magic as one could get. He then proceeded to ram that orb into his chest, and his body entered his Ascendant Dragon Force state. This was the full Dragon Force of all eight elements, simultaneously. In this state, it became clear why he was the First Wizard Saint. Gravity itself lensed around him, the amount of power he radiated was so great. He was now as pure white as the brighest of all lights and in fact he was impossible to see, unless you happened to be a Dragon. Or a Demon...

His partner finally ready, Natsu released the final vestiges of his control over his curse. The parts of his body that had been reconstructed as a Demon immediately took a new form, black scales and intense black-red flames spouting from his skin. His internal organs underwent much the same treatment. Those few parts of him that were still wholly human were suddenly flooded with all of his magic, and became fully Draconic. Finally, his powers merged completely, his E.N.D. abilities taking the reigns. Horns that were twisted and covered in nasty runes curled out of his temples, and a muscular tail with an arrowed tip snaked from his back. His clothes had long since burned away. Large, tattered, bat-like wings snapped out from his back. His hands grew to an unnatural size, and his feet too. His fingers turned clawed. His jaw changed shape, the hinge becoming looser and the jaw itself wider. His teeth sharpened, not into the thick, jagged Dragon's teeth Serena currently sported, but into needle-like points.

As soon as this tranformation began, the world became hell. The night sky, which had been clear and black, save for the moon, was now blood red and brighter than day. Flames danced across the ground, roaring and waving through the small patches of vegetation. Wendy watched aghast from over a kilometre away as wall after wall of fire echoed out from her father's position.

It was time.

Natsu lifted his right hand, grunting slightly, then slammed his open palm against the ground.

"Underworld!" He yelled.

A set of cracks, bursting with demonic fire, spread out from his hand. They raced through the earth, fire spouting up and rock splitting apart. It travelled over three hundred metres, by Serena's guess, before the fire collectively began to rise, dragging up forty metres of rock with it. The earth had literally been ripped up, and was being held aloft by a net of fire.

Lifting his hand off of the ground, he called out "Hell's Rain!" and thrust his right fist forward. Instantly the rock in the air broke into chunks, the fire, no longer controlled, turning the projectiles into molten lava. For two minutes, the sky rained molten fire.

When the sky was clear of debris, Natsu pulled back his fist, summoning up a huge burst of Demonic power. A ball of fire grew out of his fist, roughly four times his size. He swung it forward underarm, yelling "Scythe!" As he did so, the flames jumped forth as a solid construct of his curse, and carved out eight kilometres of rock in a straight line. It would have been even more, if Serena had not blasted the attack with a huge breath attack of his own to diminish it's effects. Finally, Natsu decided to try his own breath attack.

"Flame Demon King's Sin of RAGE!" His scream was accompanied by a huge blast of fire. The torrent of flame sent many a helpless animal to their death, and unknowingly destroyed an entire group of mages who'd been lying in wait for some hapless traveller to pass by. It was so bright that it actually blinded Serena, and far away, atop his mountaion once more, Acnologia winced at the light.

It took the pair of Wizard Saints several hours to fully bring their powers back under control after they finished training. When they were finally safe to be around, they embraced before racing off to find and check on Wendy.

 **SACRED** **MOUNT ZONIA**

 **ACNOLOGIA** Chuckled darkly to himself. The endgame had truly begun. Whether this display of power he'd felt and seen was a direct response to his own or not, it had certainly gotten his excitement to peak. It had been so long since he'd killed a worthy opponent.

Something nagged at the back of his mind however. The power he'd felt had had tinges of Dragon magic, true, but there had been something far darker, for more deadly to it. It had felt like... but no... he'd been sealed away for four hundred years!

"You know, it's not healthy to dwell on the past."

The King of Dragons raised his head slightly to acknowledge the intruder. They were well known to each other, and though they were mortal enemies, they could not harm each other. This lead to an uneasy truce as they both accepted the futility of attempting to kill the other.

"I hardly think you're one to be lecturing me on dwelling on the past, brother-lover."

A sad smile and a shrug was the first answer he recieved. The second was a question.

"Are you scared of them?"

A snort escaped his nostrils. "Not scared. Never. Excited though... definitely. Especially if I can destroy him once and for all this time."

The intruder's eyes hardened. "You will not be killing him. I need him. After his task is completed, then you c-"

"Leave me, you spineless coward. I know what happens when his task is fulfilled. I am not as uneducated in the workings of magic as you believe me to be. I know your curse, and I know why you have it. Get out before I decide to eat you."

The intruder smiled again, this time rather maliciously. "We will have to see who is eating who by the time he is through with you, won't we... oh brother mine?"

Acnologia screamed his rage at the intruder and swatted his paw through the air as fast as he could, but the troublesome, meddling bastard was already gone. How dare he... Once he had consumed the last Dragon's on this world, he would consume all the rest of the magic and then... Then he would see just how powerful Zeref really was.

 **THE ROAD TO MAGNOLIA**

 **MAKAROV** Watched Gray carefully as they trod the long trail back to Magnolia. The boy had seemed incredibly pensieve after their visit with Erza, and he was worried that Gray would miss her too much, especially now that he knew Erza was doing so well. He was also juggling the decision of whether or not to inform Gray that he'd already decided Gray would be an S-Class mage, regardless of the outcome of the trial. A trial that he'd postponed after Erza's disappearance.

Sighing with whimsy, he reached out (and subtly enlarged) his hand to rest on Gray's shoulder for a moment.

"Ya know, brat, this will be the first day of the rest of your life. What do you think about heading into that future with a shiny new position attached?"

Gray raised a questioning eyebrow and glanced sidelong at his Master.

"What are you saying Gramps? Is this about that trial you didn't host?"

His grin turned snarky towards the end, and Makarov flinched slightly. Understandably, a lot of people had been upset and disappointed when he'd announced that he'd forgotten to actually create a trial and begged more time.

"I'm going to promote you to S-Class, Gray. You've shown incredible maturity and you've gotten very powerful in the last few weeks. I need your help, and so does the guild, but this decision isn't a business necessity, my boy. You've more than earned the promotion."

Gray stopped in his tracks. He was being... offered? told? that he was going to be S-Class! This was incredible! He'd wanted this ever since Natsu had made the position after only a year in the guild. However...

"Gramps, I'm really honoured... but I don't think I can just yet. I need to prove myself, to myself, you know? I don't know if I can handle the responsibility."

The gentle smile Makarov had been wearing dropped into a scowl, and Gray almost laughed aloud at the familiar expression.

"You'll take the promotion and you'll be damn grateful about it, you brat! I had to pull a lot of strings to get the license from the Council to promote you immediately, and it took a few long-standing favours to get it done."

Gray really did laugh at the gruff tone his Master used, then slapped his hand down onto his Master's shoulder.

"Alright, alright Gramps, I'll do it. No need to get your panties in a twist."

With that, the two men set off once more for Fairy Tail, jesting and complaining in equal measure, with their spirits soaring ever higher than before.

 **AND THAT IS A WRAP.**

Well, it's that time again folks, time to say goodbye, until another chapter. This one was a little difficult to write and I'm still not entirely happy with it, so I may rewrite and re-upload this one at a later date. Thank you all very much for your continued support, please review if you noticed any mistakes or had any thoughts you'd like to share, yada yada yada.

Bye!


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